-x 


A  LESSON  IN  PATRIOTISM 


OPEN  AIR  CRUSADERS 

THE  INDIVIDUALITY  OF  THE  CHILD 
VERSUS  THE  SYSTEM 


TOGETHER  WITH 


A  REPORT  OF  THE  ELIZABETH  McCORMICK 
OPEN  AIR  SCHOOLS 


BY 

SHERMAN  C.  KINGSLEY 

DIRECTOR  THE  ELIZABETH  MCCORMICK  MEMORIAL  FUND 


ILLUSTRATED 


THE  ELIZABETH   McCORMICK  MEMORIAL  FUND 

315  PLYMOUTH  COURT,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 

1913 


COPYRIGHT,  1913 
THE  ELIZABETH  MCCORMICK  MEMORIAL  FUND 

First  Edition,  5,000,  January  10,  ign 
Second  Edition,  5,000,  March  i,  1911 
Third  Edition,  5,000,  January  i,  1913 


2Ci]e  ILaRrsitif 

,  R.  DONNELLEY   &  SONS  COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  ELIZABETH,  DAUGH- 
TER OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  CYRUS  HALL  McCOR- 
MICK,  A  CHILD  WHOSE  RADIANT  YOUNG 
LIFE  WAS  SO  MARKED  BY  DEEDS  OF  KIND- 
LINESS TO  OTHERS  THAT  THESE  MINIS- 
TRIES OF  LOVE  WERE  NOT  ALLOWED  TO 
CEASE  WHEN,  AT  THE  AGE  OF  TWELVE, 
SHE  WAS  CALLED  INTO  THE  PRESENCE  OF 
THE  GREAT  FRIEND  OF  ALL  THE  CHILDREN. 


258681 


PREFACE 


The  open  air  school  movement  is  one  of  the  newer  expres- 
sions of  an  awakening  public  interest  in  the  children  of  the 
nation.  It  will  be  both  natural  and  logical  if  conservation 
principles  and  sentiment  lead  us  step  by  step  from  coal  and 
iron,  phosphates  and  oil,  forests  and  water  power,  to  the  in- 
trinsic conservation  problem, — the  consideration  of  the  men, 
women  and  children  who  are  to  use  these  resources  of 
nature. 

The  greatest  possibilities  lie  with  the  children.  Roundly, 
twenty  millions  of  them  are  in  the  schools  of  the  country. 
They  are  spending  one  hundred  million  hours  a  day  through 
the  school  year  under  the  direction  of  this  definitely  constituted 
public  function,  in  the  environment  and  under  the  conditions 
prescribed  by  the  law.  So  far,  the  only  efficiency  tests  applied 
to  measure  the  success  of  this  great  undertaking  have  been 
those  which  gauge  the  ability  of  the  children  to  pass  from  one 
grade  to  the  next  in  the  series  leading  to  the  college.  We  do 
not  know  whether  the  school  experience  has  increased  or 
diminished  bodily  vigor  or  whether  the  use  of  school  time 
has  done  the  most  vital  possible  service  in  preparation  for 
what  lies  ahead. 

The  attention  of  an  increasing  number  of  people  is  focus- 
ing on  the  large  army  of  children,  somewhere  between  53  and 
70  per  cent  of  the  total  number  the  country  over,  who  fall  out 
of  school  at  or  before  the  completion  of  the  grammar  grades. 
Conspicuous  in  this  group  are  those  whose  physical  condi- 
tion has  stood  in  the  way  of  school  progress  and  has  rendered 
them  incapable  of  taking  with  profit  the  usual  school  regime. 

7 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


It  is  children  of  this  class  who  have  been  gathered  by  friends 
of  the  movement  into  the  open  air  schools. 

The  results  obtained  through  a  modified  regime  which  has 
adapted  the  curriculum  and  the  use  of  the  school  time  to  the 
individual  needs  of  these  little  people  have  been  such  that 
the  open  air  school  idea  has  spread  with  great  rapidity  and 
stimulates  interest  and  co-operation  in  the  schools  wherever  it 
goes.  The  friends  of  the  movement  believe  that  it  has  a  broad 
significance  and  that  it  throws  a  strong  light  on  the  question 
of  retardation  and  the  reasons  why  so  many  children  at  such 
an  early  age  part  company  with  the  schools. 

The  children  dealt  with  in  these  schools  are  physically 
sub-normal,  but  in  most  respects  their  problems  are  the  same 
as  those  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  short  term  children.  They 
come  from  the  public  schools  and  are,  after  all,  mentally  and 
morally  just  such  pupils  as  are  found  bending  over  the  desks  of 
any  school  room  in  the  land. 

The  open  air  school  is  a  movement  in  behalf  of  all  the 
children.  Each  child  has  a  right  to  fresh  air;  has  a  right  to 
his  own  individuality ;  a  right  to  be  understood  by  the  school, 
as  well  as  to  be  expected  to  understand  the  school  system. 

Two  years  ago  a  little  book  entitled  '''Open  Air  Crusaders" 
told  the  story  of  the  first  year-round  open  air  school  in 
Chicago.  It  set  forth  in  simple  form  the  results  of  a  year's 
work  with  a  small  group  of  physically  sub-normal  pupils. 
The  smiling  faces  of  these  little  open  air  crusaders  carried  a 
message  of  health,  encouragement  and  cheer  the  country 
over.  Everywhere  it  met  with  an  instant  response.  Teachers, 
physicians,  nurses,  tuberculosis  societies,  ministers,  humble 
fathers  and  mothers,  school  children,  wrote  for  information. 
It  revealed  a  widespread,  deep-seated  interest  in  the  public 
schools.  The  first  edition  of  5,000  was  soon  exhausted  and  a 
second  edition  of  like  number  was  published  and  distributed. 
The  books  have  gone  to  every  state  in  the  union  and  to  nine- 

8 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


teen  different  foreign  countries.  A  large  correspondence  with 
outside  cities  has  resulted  and  the  exchange  of  experiences  is 
increasing. 

This  third  edition  is  based  on  a  wider  and  longer  experience. 
The  chapters  which  follow  report  on  the  operation  of  four 
open  air  schools  and  seven  open  window  rooms,  and  relate 
the  findings  of  the  medical  staff,  the  results  of  the  different 
experiments  in  feeding,  clothing,  and  general  administration. 

This  movement  has  again  demonstrated  the  deep  interest 
of  the  public  in  our  schools.  The  hearty  and  efficient  co-opera- 
tion of  individuals  and  agencies  at  every  point  where  help  could 
be  extended  indicates  that  there  is  a  world  of  interest  and 
power  to  be  drawn  upon  from  the  public  for  the  furtherance 
and  improvement  of  our  educational  system.  This  co-opera- 
tion has  come  from  physicians,  laymen,  nurses,  philanthropic 
agencies,  public  and  private,  and  civic  bodies.  The  interest 
and  enthusiasm  of  the  teachers  and  physicians  have  been 
peculiarly  gratifying.  They  have  made  the  cause  of  these 
little  people  their  own  and  have  spared  nothing  that  they 
could  do.  The  same  spirit  has  animated  all  those  who  have 
had  a  part  in  the  work  and  we  wish  to  accord  to  one  and  all 
our  sincerest  gratitude  for  their  whole-hearted,  efficient  service. 

SHERMAN  C.  KINGSLEY. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 


I.     THE    OPEN    AIR    SCHOOL    AND    THE    PUBLIC    SCHOOL 

SYSTEM 13 

II.     THE  SCHOOL  REGIME  AND  THE  SHORT-TERM  CHILD      .  21 

III.  A  COMMUNITY  PROGRAM  FOR  FRESH  AIR  EDUCATION  31 

IV.  HOME    AND    SCHOOL  —  A    STUDY    IN    SOCIAL    BACK- 

GROUNDS       51 

V.     OPEN  AIR  SCHOOLS  FROM  THE  TEACHER'S  STANDPOINT  61 

VI.     OPEN  AIR  SCHOOLS  FROM  THE  PHYSICIAN'S  STANDPOINT  75 

VII.     EXPERIMENTS  IN  FEEDING 85 

VIII.     THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  WORK  IN 

CHICAGO 99 

IX.     How  TO  EQUIP  AN  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL in 

ADDENDA 

Summary  of  Results,  Chicago,  1911-12. 
Comparison  of  Results,  Chicago,  March,  1912. 
Parent's  Consent  Card,  Chicago. 
Sample  Record  Card,  Chicago. 
A  Study  in  January  School  Attendance. 
Bibliography. 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 

A  LESSON  IN  PATRIOTISM Frontispiece 

THE  OPEN  AIR  SMILE 12 

WHERE  THE  CHILDREN  LIVE 15 

SCHOOL  GARDENING  ON  A  CITY  ROOF 19 

EXERCISING  ON  THE  ROOF 30 

A  CAMP  ALGONQUIN  SCHOOLROOM 34 

WHERE  THE  VENTILATION  PROBLEM  is  SOLVED 37 

PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY  IN  THE  OPEN 40 

THE  ELIZABETH  MCCORMICK  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  GARDEN 44 

CLEVELAND  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  EXTERIOR 45 

CLEVELAND  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  INTERIOR 47 

SCHOOLGRAMS 49 

CANDIDATES  FOR  THE  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL .      .  50 

INFECTION  THROUGH  FOOD 50 

SLEEPING  PERIOD  IN  THE  FRANKLIN  SCHOOL,  CHICAGO 53 

TENT  SCHOOL  OF  CHICAGO  TUBERCULOSIS  INSTITUTE 57 

EXTERIOR  OF  ELIZABETH  MCCORMICK  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  NUMBER  THREE  60 

MAKING  BRICKS  AT  THE  CHARLOTTENBURG  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL       ...  66 

ENTRANCE  TO  THE  CHARLOTTENBURG  SCHOOL        67 

AMERICA'S  OPPORTUNITY 68 

INTERIOR  OF  ELIZABETH  MCCORMICK  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  NUMBER  FOUR     .  74 

EXAMINATION  BY  THE  PHYSICIAN  IN  CHARGE 80 

TEMPERATURE  AND  PULSE  ARE  RECORDED  DAILY 80 

DINNER  TIME 84 

KENOSHA,  WISCONSIN,  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL,  EXTERIOR  AND  INTERIOR  .      .  93 

OPEN  AIR,  OPEN  MINDS 98 

BOTANY  AT  CAMP 105 

WRAPPING  UP  FOR  THE  AFTERNOON  NAP 116 

LIST   OF   CHARTS  AND   PLANS 

DOES  A  SCHOOL  SYSTEM  AIMED  AT  THE  COLLEGE  HIT  THE  MARK?    .      .  20 

RETARDATION  AND  ELIMINATION  IN  CHICAGO  SCHOOLS 25 

CONNECTION  BETWEEN  RETARDATION  AND  ELIMINATION 27 

ROOF  PLAN,  ELIZABETH  MCCORMICK  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  NUMBER  ONE    .  104 

ROOF  PLAN,  ELIZABETH  MCCORMICK  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  NUMBER  Two  .  107 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  MAKING  ESKIMO  SUITS 113 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  MAKING  SLEEPING  BAGS 114 


12 


THE    OPEN    AIR    SCHOOL    AND    THE    PUBLIC 
SCHOOL   SYSTEM 


The  open  air  school  is  one  of  many 
movements  through  which  boards  of 
ducation  and  an  increasing  number 
of  agencies  and  individuals  co- 
operating with  the  public  school 
system  are  to-day  trying  to  serve 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  children 
of  our  country.     Specifically,  it 
is  one  of  the  efforts  in  behalf 
of  the  "ninety  and  nine." 

The  school  system  has  so 
long  been  aimed  at  the  col- 
lege and  the  one  per  cent  of 

the  pupils  who  finally  reach  our  educational  goal  and  grad- 
uate from  the  college  that  it  may  safely  be  assumed  that 
this  one  in  the  one  hundred  will  continue  to  have  ample 
provision  for  training.  Far  from  begrudging  this  opportunity 
to  the  college  student,  a  proud  and  generous  public  will 
see  that  the  college  grows  and  that  all  the  avenues  of  learning 
leading  to  it  are  kept  open  and  still  further  diversified  and 
enriched  as  time  goes  on,  and  all  will  glory  in  this  fact. 

But  the  day  of  the  ninety  and  nine  has  arrived.  They  are 
to  have  their  innings.  The  sentiment  voiced  in  a  familiar 
hymn,  "There  were  ninety  and  nine  that  safely  lay,"  seems  to 
have  possessed  our  people  and  has  lulled  them  into  entire  com- 
placency about  matters  pertaining  to  the  children  and  the 
schools;  but  as  applied  to  our  school  situation,  this  idea  is 

13 


CRUSADERS 


taking  us  in  the  wrong  direction  and  needs  to  be  reversed; 
for,  as  is  now  beginning  to  be  understood  and  appreciated 
quite  generally,  the  trouble  concerns  the  ninety  and  nine. 
The  one  "far  out  on  the  hills  away"  is  in  college  and  is  very 
well  taken  care  of  so  far  as  opportunity  for  education  and 
training  is  concerned.  However,  no  one  will  urge  that  even 
this  one  does  not  still  need  considerable  thought  and  atten- 
tion. 

The  open  air  school  has  grown  out  of  very  close  and  personal 
relations  and  acquaintance  with  individual  children  and  an 
equally  close  understanding  and  familiarity  with  conditions 
surrounding  the  child  life  of  to-day.  The  children  in  these 
schools  are  among  the  first  of  the  ninety  and  nine  to  fall  out 
of  school.  They  are  part  of  that  large  army  which  in  the 
fifth  grade  begins  effectively  and  finally  to  part  company  with 
the  school  system,  and  which  pours  out  in  increasing  numbers 
until,  the  country  over,  about  seventy  per  cent  of  all  who 
start  are  finally  separated  from  school  influence  at  or  before 
the  completion  of  the  eighth  grade.  A  little  over  six  per  cent 
finish  the  four-year  high  school  course,  and  one  out  of  the  one 
hundred  finally  graduates  from  college. 

Physicians  and  social  workers  have  been  coming  upon 
these  children  who  so  early  leave  the  school  in  increasing 
numbers,  and  through  new  points  of  contact.  One  of  the 
newest  avenues  of  introduction  opens  even  before  the  child 
is  ready  for  school,  through  the  Infant  Welfare  stations,  baby 
hospitals  and  baby  dispensaries  now  rapidly  multiplying  in  all 
our  cities.  This  has  revealed  the  startling  fact  that  being  a 
baby  is  the  most  hazardous  occupation  in  the  world;  for  one 
out  of  every  six  dies  before  his  first  year  has  expired,  and  the 
diseases  and  conditions  which  cause  this  frightful  mortality 
leave  their  mark  on  many  of  those  who  live  and  a  little  later 
sends  them  to  school  with  low  vitality  and  weakened  resistance. 

Two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  baby  deaths  in  a  year 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


in  our  country  tells  a  big  story  of  the  perils  and  the  ignorance 
prevailing  in  baby-land,  through  which  all  the  candidates  for 
school  must  come.  But  the  doctor  and  the  social  workers  have 
seen  these  children  in  many  other  relations  —  in  the  juvenile 
court,  in  the  institutions  for  dependents  and  delinquents,  in  the 
welfare  departments  of  factories  and  stores,  in  insanitary  tene- 


FlFTY  PER  CENT  OF  THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  ARE  NOW  REARED 

IN  CITIES  AND  TOWNS 

ments  and  homes  where  social  workers  have  been  trying  to 
throw  props  around  disintegrating  families,  and  particularly  in 
the  conditions  revealed  through  the  tuberculosis  clinics  which 
are  coming  to  be  a  part  of  the  social  machinery  in  our  large 
cities. 

The  country  has  begun  to  realize  that  a  profound  change 
has  taken  place.  One  hundred  years  ago  only  about  three  per 
cent  of  our  people  lived  under  city  conditions.  It  was 
only  about  twenty-nine  per  cent  in  1880,  but  according  to 
the  last  census  about  one  half  of  the  children  of  the  nation  are 
now  being  reared  under  town  and  city  environment.  They 

15 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


have  gradually  been  taken  from  the  farm  and  the  ranch,  from 
the  house  with  a  garden  and  a  yard,  and  the  simpler  and 
more  elemental  conditions  of  life  in  the  open  have  been  re- 
placed by  those  of  the  flat  and  the  tenement.  They  have 
gathered  into  the  city  centers  from  every  county  and  hamlet 
in  our  country,  from  the  countrysides  and  villages,  from  farms 
and  gardens  and  vineyards  of  every  country  in  the  Old  World. 
Every  city  has  its  congested  areas  and  is  rearing  a  big  per- 
centage of  its  children  in  flat  and  tenement;  the  back  yard  gone 
and  the  front  yard  cut  away,  and  the  children  turned  over  to 
the  uncertain  vicissitudes  of  the  streets. 

Along  with  this  change  has  come  another  related  to  it  and 
equally  profound.  In  the  earlier  day,  and  under  simpler  con- 
ditions, the  home  was  not  only  a  place  of  nurture  and  care, 
but  of  recreation,  training  in  consecutiveness,  responsibility, 
initiative,  and  of  general  education.  There  was  an  opportu- 
nity for  the  children  to  help  about  the  house  and  take  part  in 
many  of  the  processes  necessary  to  the  home.  They  brought 
in  wood,  fed  and  cared  for  the  animals,  planted  in  the  spring, 
helped  to  tend  the  garden  and  the  crops  in  the  summer  and 
harvest  them  in  the  fall;  they  churned,  helped  to  cure  meat, 
they  learned  to  do  many  other  useful  things.  This  life  kept 
them  much  out  of  doors  and  in  the  open.  This  has  changed. 
In  the  homes  of  the  rich  and  well-to-do,  ready-made  and  ready- 
to-serve  luxuries  and  necessities  are  provided  for  the  children ; 
in  the  homes  of  the  poor,  as  many  ready-made  and  ready-to- 
serve  necessities  as  can  be  afforded.  The  schools  complain 
that  the  children  want  to  be  entertained  and  that  parents  will 
not  stand  back  of  the  teacher  for  the  drill  and  discipline  of  an 
earlier  day.  Parents,  on  the  other  hand,  rebel  at  the  nervous 
strain  and  the  tax  on  the  health  and  vitality  of  the  child. 

In  so  far  as  the  public  has  been  cognizant  of  this  transition, 
it  has  unconsciously  assumed  that  the  school  would  auto- 
matically do  for  the  children  everything  that  the  home  has 

16 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


yielded  and  that  new  conditions  demand.  Much  progress 
has  been  made  in  this  direction,  but  without  public  under- 
standing, backing  and  support  it  will  be  impossible  for  the 
schools  to  assume  all  that  has  been  given  up  by  the  home  and 
furthermore  prepare  the  child  for  the  equally  profound  change 
in  the  industrial  world  to  which  he  goes  on  leaving  the  school. 
The  schools  have  had  a  heavy  task  as  it  is,  and  continuing  as 
they  have  under  the  dominance  of  the  college,  they  have  pro- 
ceeded in  the  best  way  they  could,  handling  too  many  children 
to  the  teacher,  and  with  a  sort  of  military  precision  about  the 
whole  regime.  Unlike  the  merchant  or  manufacturer,  they 
have  not  been  concerned  about  raw  material.  In  industrial 
enterprises  the  business  man  must  scan  the  world  and  must 
know  years  in  advance  where  to  look  for  the  raw  material  upon 
which  he  may  apply  the  magic  of  his  manufacturing  processes. 
It  is  different  with  the  schools.  They  have  always  known  that 
on  every  September  morning  when  the  new  school  year  opened 
there  would  be  a  roomful  of  children  waiting  before  each 
door.  Then  it  has-been  the  business  of  each  teacher  to  "shoo" 
the  brood  which  falls  to  her  lot  a  certain  intellectual  distance, 
invariably  in  the  direction  of  the  college  on  the  hill.  At  the 
end  of  the  school  year  the  opposite  door  opened  and  the  children 
dissolved  back  into  the  community.  The  community  giveth 
and  the  community  taketh  away.  Each  grade  has  so  many 
children;  there  are  certain  studies  to  make,  so  high  a  level  in 
marks  required  to  pass.  If  the  pupil  fails  in  one  thing  he  must 
take  the  whole  course  over  again.  If  he  cannot  handle  one 
item  on  the  bill  of  fare  he  must  eat  the  whole  menu  over. 

One  school  in  a  prominent  city  of  25,000  thought  it  had  no 
retardation  problem.  One  day  a  little  girl  was  discovered  who 
had  sat  for  five  years  in  the  same  grade.  A  study  of  retarda- 
tion was  begun  and  a  thousand  retarded  pupils  were  found  in 
that  city.  Chicago  has  found  69,000  children  from  one  to 
three  years  behind  in  their  grades. 

17 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


The  problem  of  retardation  is  challenging  the  attention  of 
the  nation. 

When  we  come  close  to  this  army  of  children  who  have 
fallen  behind,  we  find  all  kinds  of  conditions  prevailing  among 
them.  When  any  city  takes  a  map  of  its  community  and  in- 
dicates on  the  map  the  places  where  the  retarded  children  live 
in  largest  numbers,  they  are  led  back  to  the  congested  parts 
of  the  city ;  to  unsanitary  dwellings ;  to  the  homes  of  the  poor ; 
to  the  tenements  which  kill  babies  and  harbor  and  foster 
consumptives;  to  the  weak  spots  in  the  community. 

The  friends  of  the  open  air  school  movement,  physicians, 
social  workers  and  nurses,  know  these  little  people;  they  have 
become  acquainted  with  children  running  temperatures  of 
101  to  1 02  degrees,  sick  with  an  active  process  of  tuberculosis, 
children  whose  home  life  and  home  conditions  are  such  that 
they  cannot  possibly  go  to  school  with  profit,  children  who  can- 
not see  the  blackboard,  who  cannot  hear  the  teacher's  voice, 
children  with  adenoids,  with  enlarged  tonsils,  with  physical 
defects  of  many  kinds  and  of  varying  degrees  in  their  blighting, 
retarding  influence.  They  have  observed  that  a  school 
system  that  marches  ruthlessly  toward  the  college  does  no 
give  ample  or  adequate  consideration  to  these  children.  These 
workers  have  tried  to  find  employment  for  such  boys  and 
girls,  and  have  been  impressed  by  the  inadequacy  of  their  prep- 
aration. The  doctors  have  tried  to  strengthen  and  mend  the 
imperfect  or  broken  mechanism  of  the  bodies  and  to  build  a 
basis  for  greater  brain  vigor.  The  social  workers  have  tried 
to  give  the  children  a  chance  and  find  them  employment. 
The  inadequacy  of  their  training  and  the  pitiful  spectacle  of 
these  little  weaklings  trying  to  run  that  race  which  is  only  to 
the  strong  is  moving  and  pathetic. 

The  open  air  school  with  its  special  consideration,  its 
adaptation  of  the  curriculum  and  regime  of  the  school  to  the 
needs  of  the  children,  and  the  thrilling  spectacle  of  children 

18 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


growing  stronger,  increasing  their  resistance  and  the  vigor  of 
their  minds,  acquiring  new  eagerness  and  joy  of  life,  has  been 
most  gratifying.  It  has  afforded  another  look  into  the  school 
system;  it  has  shown  the  problems  of  these  little  people  to  be 
akin  to  the  problems  of  many  other  of  the  ninety  and  nine 
who  quit  the  schools  immature  in  body  and  unprepared  for 
the  duties  of  life. 

The  open  air  school  is  an  appeal  and  a  challenge  for  the 
fresh  air  rights,  for  the  sanitation  and  hygiene  rights  of  every 


SCHOOL  GARDENING  ON  A  CITY  ROOF 

one  of  the  twenty  million  school  children.  It  also  offers  an 
appeal  in  behalf  of  the  individuality  of  every  child  and  a  re- 
ward to  the  teacher  and  the  school  system  and  to  the  state  of 
which  they  are  a  part  for  the  recognition  of  that  individuality. 
We  have  been  taught  the  value  of  manual  training  in  re- 
formatories. Some  of  our  best  lessons  in  teaching  have  come 
from  the  schools  of  the  feeble-minded;  we  have  learned  the 
value  of  sunshine  and  fresh  air  from  consumptives.  How 
sick  or  abnormal  must  children  continue  to  be  to  get  their 
rights? 

19 


20 


THE  SCHOOL  REGIME  AND  THE  SHORT- 
TERM  CHILD 


As  a  background  for  the  material 
set  forth  in  this  book,  a  glance  at  the 
accompanying  chart  may  be  of  inter- 
est.    It  is  a  diagram  based  on  figures 
from    the   1910  report  of  the  public 
schools    of    Chicago.     The   chart   as 
originally   made    was    worked 
out  by  Mr.  E.  A.  Wreidt  of  the 
Committee    on    Education    of 
the  City  Club  of  Chicago.     It 
is  a  graphic  representation  of 
the    falling    out    process    and 

shows  the  percentage  of  children  retained  in  the  successive 
grades  of  the  Chicago  schools  to  the  end  of  the  high  school 
course. 

Using  Mr.  Wreidt's  diagram  as  a  base,  we  have  attempted 
to  suggest  some  of  the  employments  open  to  the  boys  and  girls 
as  they  drop  out  of  school  in  the  lower  grades,  and  have  also 
carried  the  idea  through  to  the  end  of  the  college  course  to 
show  how  many  pupils  out  of  one  hundred  finally  get  through 
the  college,  which  has  so  largely  dominated  the  educational 
system  in  this  country.  The  percentage  of  students  who 
finish  college  is  somewhere  between  one  and  two  per  cent ; 
but  since  the  college  graduates  both  men  and  women, 
they  are  given  the  excess  showing.  The  part  of  the  chart 
which  is  our  own  is  far  from  satisfactory,  but  we  offer  it 
for  whatever  of  suggestiveness  it  may  afford  in  the  discussion 

21 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


concerning  short  term  children  and  the  dominance  of  the 
school  system  by  the  college.  The  schools  concern  "all  the 
children  of  all  the  people,"  and  our  plea  is  that  they  should  go 
more  effectively  with  the  children  who  cannot  go  far. 

Mr.  Wreidt's  figures  for  Chicago  and  the  line  depicting  the 
elimination  is  substantially  the  same  as  the  result  reached  by 
Professor  Edward  L.  Thorndike  of  Teachers  College,  Colum- 
bia, and  published  in  a  monograph  entitled  "Elimination  of 
Pupils  from  our  Public  Schools."  Professor  Thorndike's 
work  was  based  on  figures  from  the  schools  of  a  number  of 
large  cities,  and  while  his  figures  indicate  an  earlier  beginning 
of  the  falling  out  process  than  is  indicated  in  Mr.  Wreidt's 
chart,  both  are  in  agreement  that  the  process  begins  early, 
and  the  two  are  agreed  as  to  the  results  at  the  end  of  the 
grammar  grades,  viz. :  that  about  seventy  per  cent  of  the 
children  leave  school  at  or  before  the  completion  of  the  eighth 
grade,  and  that  about  six  per  cent  graduate  from  the  high  school. 

Dr.  Leonard  P.  Ayres  in  "Laggards  in  Our  Schools,"  page 
71,  by  a  different  method  of  computation  and  compilation, 
shows  a  chart  which  places  the  number  eliminated  at  the  end 
of  the  eighth  grade  at  about  fifty-three  per  cent  instead  of 
seventy  per  cent  (according  to  Prof.  Thorndike's  statement), 
and  concludes  that  about  ten  per  cent  finally  graduate  from 
the  high  school  instead  of  six  per  cent. 

Many  different  reasons  are  assigned  for  this  early  separation 
from  school.  Among  them,  however,  are  the  economic  situa- 
tion, the  failure  of  the  school  to  grip  the  child's  interest,  and 
questions  of  health. 

Lack  of  success  in  school  studies  is  doubtless  one  of  the  great- 
est single  causes  which  impel  pupils  to  drop  out  of  school. 

To  what  extent  this  lack  of  success  has  a  physical  basis, 
nobody  knows.  Medical  examination  has  revealed  many 
facts  concerning  the  physical  conditions  of  school  children,  but 
medical  examination  in  most  schools  is  very  superficial  and 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


detects  only  the  more  outward  and  apparent  defects,  such  as 
those  of  vision,  hearing,  adenoids  and  teeth. 

The  experience  with  children  in  the  open  air  schools 
throws  some  light  on  this  phase  of  the  problem  because  of  the 
closer  relation,  the  more  thorough  examination  and  detail 
medical  work. 

During  the  school  year  immediately  preceding  her  admis- 
sion to  the  open  air  Mildred  had  made  repeated  attempts  to 
attend  the  public  school,  but  she  was  unable  to  climb  the 
stairs  which  led  to  the  school  room  without  suffering  from 
severe  headaches,  and  her  physician  finally  forbade  her  at- 
tendance and  advised  her  living  out  of  doors.  The  only  out- 
doors accessible  to  Mildred,  whose  father  was  an  Italian  day 
laborer  trying  to  support  a  family  of  seven  on  a  weekly  wage 
of  $10,  was  the  dust  and  dirt  of  the  street.  There  was  not 
even  a  park  within  walking  distance  of  her  home,  and  car  fare 
was  out  of  the  question.  After  this  enforced  vacation  she  was 
so  eager  to  get  back  to  school  that  she  tried  three  times  during 
the  following  September,  but  succeeded  in  being  present  only 
two  and  one  half  days  in  all.  In  February  she  heard  of  the 
Open  Air  School,  made  application  at  once,  and  was  admitted. 
The  physician's  examination  disclosed  the  fact  that  Mildred 
was  in  the  incipient  stage  of  tuberculosis,  and  badly  needed 
fresh  air  and  nourishing  food.  She  got  both  at  the  Elizabeth 
McCormick  Open  Air  School.  The  elevator  service  to  the 
roof  removed  the  necessity  of  climbing  stairs. 

Her  headaches  disappeared.  She  did  not  miss  a  day  that 
year,  and  completed  the  seventh  grade  work  in  half  the  re- 
quired time.  During  the  second  year  in  the  open  air  she 
kept  up  a  practically  perfect  record  of  attendance,  and  suc- 
cessfully completed  the  eighth  grade.  The  physician  pro- 
nounces her  now  entirely  free  from  tuberculosis  and  able  to 
do  light  work.  Her  whole  attitude  toward  life  has  changed 
with  the  discovery  that  the  discouragements  of  her  early 

23 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


school  days  were  not  necessarily  to  be  typical  of  her  after 
experience. 

Mildred  was  fortunate  enough  to  be  so  far  from  well  that 
her  poor  attendance  and  irregular  recitations  could  not  be 
attributed  to  stupidity.  Tony,  on  the  other  hand,  looked  per- 
fectly well.  He  belonged  to  that 
large  class  of  boys  .^  which  most  teach- 
ers dread  to  see  ^F^\,  entering  the  room; 
overgrown,  dull  ^^kiyft^yil^  eyed,  fond  of  teas- 
ing, begrudging  ^j^m  H  every  moment 
that  must  be  given  •  jji  to  school,  he  had 
lagged  behind  ^U  until  at  thirteen 
he  was  only  in  the  M  fourth  grade.  His 
teachers  with  f  unanimity  pro- 
nounced him  "hopeless."  So 
discouraging  had  been  his  record  in 
both  scholarship  and  deportment 
that  a  petition  had  already  been  filed 
to  have  him  transferred  to  the 
parental  school  as  unmanageable. 

A  visit  to  Tony's  home  re- 

vealed some  of  the  ^^P^R  reasons  for  his  de- 

linquency. Tony  TONY  came  to  this  coun- 

try from  Italy  six  years  ago.  He 

had  never  been  well  since.  The  family  lived  in  four  small 
rooms  fronting  on  a  dirty  alley.  Tony,  with  his  two  brothers, 
slept  in  a  dark  bedroom  which  had  but  one  window,  and  this 
was  never  opened. 

After  a  short  period  in  the  Open  Air  School  he  showed  such 
a  desire  to  improve  that  he  was  allowed  to  try  the  fifth  grade 
work  and  in  June  was  passed  into  the  sixth  grade.  He  became 
tractable,  a  favorite  with  both  teacher  and  pupils,  and  as 
indicated,  made  two  grades  in  less  than  a  year. 

Morris  was  very  poor  in  his  work  when  he  first  entered  the 

24 


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This  graph  may  be  interpreted  as  follows:  Of  al 
12  year  old  pupils  enrolled  in  Chicago  public  schools 
in  1910-11,  42.5%  were  over-age,  or   behind    grade 
53.5%  Of  the  15  year  old  children  were  over-age,  etc 

The  graph  shows,  in  general,  that  retardation,  01 
over-age,  increases  rapidly   the  longer  the  childrer 
stay  in  school. 

The  drops  in  the  curve  are  explained  by  the 
elimination  (above  14  years)  of  the  over-age  pupils. 

1  r 

/ 

/ 

10- 

•  5 

i 

n^ 

HO 

*- 

- 

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2- 

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4- 

5 

6 

8 

I 

OR 

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p 

DVER 

Courtesy  Mr.  E.  A.  Wreidt 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


Open  Air  School.  He  took  no  interest  in  his  lessons  and 
required  to  be  urged  to  accomplish  any  seat  work  at  all.  His 
interest  increased  so  rapidly,  however,  that  one  by  one  he 
brought  his  favorite  playmates  to  seek  admittance  to  the 
school.  They  were,  to  his  disappointment,  too  well  to  be 
admitted.  As  Morris's  health  improved  he  began  to  consider 
the  rest  periods  a  waste  of  time,  so  anxious  was  he  to  spend 
every  minute  possible  upon  his  work. 

In  the  closed  window  room  Morris  had  never  made  trouble. 
He  lacked  the  initiative  of  Tony;  but  he  had  been  absolutely 
listless,  and  with  no  desire  to  remain  in  school.  He  will  never 
be  a  brilliant  man,  but  he  can  become  very  useful,  and  his 
attitude  towards  school  will  be  friendly. 

These  stories  are  typical  of  experiences  with  children 
in  the  open  air  schools.  All  these  children  were  in  the  group 
that  would  be  called  retarded  and  destined  for  an  early  separa- 
tion from  the  school.  In  the  studies  made  of  retardation,  it  is 
discovered  that  about  thirty- three  per  cent  of  all  the  pupils 
in  the  school  belong  in  the  retarded  class. 

This  is  not  at  all  a  problem  concerning  a  few  underde- 
veloped or  feeble-minded  children.  It  is  one  affecting  most 
intimately  perhaps  6,000,000  children  in  the  United  States. 

The  tendency  everywhere  is  for  the  behind-grade  children 
to  drop  out  of  school.  As  shown  elsewhere,  the  child  who  is 
below  grade  eight  at  fourteen  is  more  than  twice  as  likely  to 
drop  out  as  the  child  who  has  reached  the  eighth  grade  and 
fifteen  times  as  likely  to  drop  out  as  the  child  above  grade 
eight.  A  common  school  education  is  regarded  everywhere  as 
the  minimum  for  a  child  brought  up  in  America.  But  when 
it  is  shown  that  70  per  cent  of  the  children  leave  the  schools 
altogether  at  or  before  the  completion  of  the  eighth  grade  and 
when  it  is  further  realized  that  this  whole  group  averages  about 
a  fifth  grade  accomplishment,  the  gravity  of  the  situation  be- 
comes apparent. 

26 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


In  Chicago  65  per  cent  of  the  children  leave  school 
at  14  years  of  age;  77  per  cent  leave  before  they  are  16 
years  old. 

Of  those  who  leave  school  between  14  and  16  years  of 
age,  nearly  three  fourths  leave  in  grades  below  the  eighth; 
over  one  half  leave  in  grade  six  or  below;  over  one  third 
leave  in  grade  five  or  below;  only  4  per  cent  attend  high 
school. 

Chances  ) 

below  grade  8$™^ 

Chances  )  ^^^^«2 

in  grade  8        } 

Chances  j  ^^^^^^MH^^^^^^^M^^^^^^^MHMI  q  2 

above  grade  8  } 

The  chances*  that  a  1 4-year-old  pupil  will  remain  in 
school  are  2.1  times  as  great  in  grade  8  as  they  are  below 
grade  8,  and  15.2  times  as  great  above  grade  8  as  they 
are  below  grade  8. 

*  "  Chances"  in  the  mathematical  sense  of  "odds." 


Courtesy  Mr.  E.  A.  Wreidt. 

Here  we  have  a  condition  where  failure  to  make  grades 
further  congests  the  schools  and  increases  the  number  of 
pupils  to  the  teacher,  while  at  the  same  time  the  congestion  in 
the  schools,  the  large  number  of  pupils  to  each  teacher,  the 
inability  to  individualize  and  understand  children,  increases 
the  retardation.  The  pressure  is  constantly  put  on  the 
teacher  to  get  her  children  through  the  grades  in  somewhat 
the  same  fashion  that  a  salesman  is  rated  and  compensated, 
according  to  the  amount  of  goods  he  delivers.  The  teacher 
feels  that  she  will  be  ranked  by  her  ability  to  deliver  the 
children  to  the  next  grade.  This  is  all  natural  enough,  since 

27 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


the  school  courses  are  dominated  by  the  colleges  and  uni- 
versities. The  law  is  likewise  inelastic  and  enables  the 
children  to  drop  out  at  14,  making  a  definite  age  limit  the 
standard  rather  than  the  child's  manual,  intellectual,  or 
physical  ability  to  begin  work. 

In  this  country  we  have  not  in  any  large  way  tested  the 
results  of  our  schools  and  the  experiment  of  rearing  the  chil- 
dren so  largely  in  town  and  city  environment.  A  few  years 
ago  England  was  led  to  an  examination  of  her  living  conditions 
and  to  consider  her  human  resources.  She  sent  her  troops 
to  South  Africa  to  fight  some  Dutch  farmers.  Under  the 
stress  of  the  campaign,  the  men  fell  ill  in  large  numbers. 
They  could  not  fight  and  endure  as  British  armies  fought  in 
the  days  when  they  were  drawn  from  the  yeomanry.  When 
England  went  back  to  Liverpool  and  London,  Manchester, 
and  Birmingham  to  recruit  the  ranks,  she  found  a  condi- 
tion among  the  people  bred  and  reared  in  her  congested 
industrial  centers  that  startled  the  empire  awake.  Statures 
had  shrunk  and  the  men  did  not  come  up  to  grade.  The  stuff 
that  makes  for  day's  work  was  disappearing  from  the  arms 
and  legs  of  the  sought-for  soldiers.  In  order  to  get  recruits  the 
standard  had  to  be  lowered. 

Since  then  her  statesmen  and  people  have  been  busy  trying 
to  devise  ways  to  counteract  the  conditions  that  are  bringing 
these  results.  England  is  considering  pension  and  insurance 
plans  of  all  kinds  and  is  thoroughly  aroused. 

It  ought  not  to  require  any  such  demonstration  as  this  to 
enlist  the  sympathy  and  action  of  the  people  in  behalf  of  the 
children.  The  facts  concerning  infant  mortality  that  are 
becoming  known,  the  figures  revealed  in  the  work  of  medical 
inspection,  and  the  facts  disclosed  in  children's  courts  and 
institutions  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  influence  the  educational 
policies  of  school  authorities  and  to  bring  to  the  school  people 
that  intelligent  co-operation  and  backing  from  the  public 

28 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


that  will  make  it  possible  to  do  for  these  children  the  thing  best 
calculated  to  insure  useful  and  satisfactory  lives  to  themselves 
and  to  the  community.  To  again  quote  from  Dr.  Ayres: 

;'The  administrative  reforms  which  must  be  brought  about 
consist  mainly  of  more  thorough  and  better  medical  inspection, 
courses  of  study  which  will  more  nearly  fit  trie  abilities  of  the 
average  pupil,  more  flexible  grading,  and,  most  important  of  all, 
a  better  knowledge  of  the  facts.  We  must  have  better  school 
records  and  we  must  learn  to  interpret  them  more  intelligently. 
It  is  far  from  creditable  that  in  hardly  a  city  in  the  country 
can  the  school  authorities  tell  how  many  pupils  begin  school 
each  year,  or  how  fast  they  advance,  or  what  proportion 
finish  or  why  they  fall  out,  or  where  and  why  they  lose  time." 


Eat,  eat,  keep  on  eating, 
Sleep,  sleep,  keep  on  sleeping, 
Breathing  fresh  air  night  and  day, 
Happy  in  our  work  and  play. 

We're  going  to  the  country, 

Hurrah !     Hurrah ! 

We'll  take  our  blankets  with  us, 

Our  Eskimo  suits  of  gray. 

We'll  take  our  teacher  with  us, 

Hurrah !     Hurrah ! 

For  off  to  fair  Algonquin 

We're  on  our  way. 

Now,  if  you'll  kindly  listen, 

We'll  tell  you  why 

It's  easy  to  grow  husky 

And  never,  never  die. 

We're  going  to  the  country, 

It's  truly  so, 

And  it's  eat  and  sleep  and  good  fresh  air 

That  makes  us  grow. 


A    COMMUNITY   PROGRAM    FOR    FRESH    AIR 

EDUCATION 


Getting  fresh  air  into  school- 
rooms is  not  a  problem  peculiar 
to  great  cities.  It  concerns 
every  community  that  sends 
children  indoors  to  school.  In- 
deed, the  smaller  the  town  the 
more  apt  is  the  ventilation  of 
its  public  buildings  to  be  poor. 
The  country  church,  where  ^e 
alternately  roasts  and  fre  s, 
and  the  town  hall  whose  n- 
dows  are  black  with  the  undis- 
turbed cobwebs  of  generations 
of  hoary  spiders,  weekly  contrib- 
ute their  share  towar  tearing 
down  lung  tissue  jh  the 
sweet,  clean  air  of  the  open  fields  has  built  up. 

In  such  communities  a  ventilating  system,  once  installed, 
is  regarded  with  superstitious  awe.  In  a  little  Northern 
Minnesota  town,  the  same  man,  appropriately  enough,  is  both 
village  undertaker  and  school  janitor.  He  objects  seriously 
if  his  avocation  of  coffin  making,  carried  on  in  the  school 
basement,  is  interrupted,  especially  by  any  complaint  about 
the  quality  of  air  in  the  school  room.  One  act,  however,  will 
bring  him  on  the  double-quick.  If  a  teacher  dares  to  open  a 
window,  in  sweeps  this  stanch  defender  of  the  system,  ready 
for  a  veritable  set-to.  So  the  pupils  yawn  day  after  day  in  an 

31 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


attempt  to  focus  stupefied  brains  on  lessons  that  ought  to  be 
interesting,  while  just  outside  the  windows  the  Minnesota 
sunshine  sparkles  through  crisp,  fragrant  air  blowing  straight 
from  the  pine  woods  where  they  are  building  sanatoria  for  the 
benefit  of  consumptives. 

A  church  janitor  was  asked  about  details  of  preparation  for 
an  evening  service  at  which  it  was  especially  desired  to  spirit- 
ually refresh  and  invigorate  the  congregation.  There  was  a 
strong  atmosphere  of  previous  meetings  in  the  stuffy,  tight - 
closed  room.  The  janitor  urged  that  opening  windows  or 
doors  would  further  chill  the  room,  and  explained  that  he 
always  relied  on  "gas  and  breath"  to  warm  it  up. 

A  superintendent  of  schools  in  a  Wisconsin  town  reports 
that  in  the  year  before  she  came  to  her  present  position  two 
teachers  received  letters  from  the  board  of  education,  warning 
them  that  they  stood  in  peril  of  dismissal  if  they  continued 
to  open  the  windows  of  their  class-rooms. 

"There  may  be  perfectly  ventilated  school  buildings,"  says 
Mrs.  Ella  Flagg  Young,  superintendent  of  the  Chicago  public 
schools,  "but  it  has  never  been  my  good  fortune  to  visit  one. 
In  the  East  and  in  the  West,  one  recognizes  the  same  stale 
conditions  in  the  atmosphere  of  school  rooms.  It  is  no  reflec- 
tion upon  the  architects  and  engineers  of  buildings  in  which 
large  numbers  of  persons  are  congregated  to  say  that  the 
problem  of  ventilation  is  unsolved.  The  development  of 
sanitary  science  and  the  interest  of  members  of  the  scientific 
and  medical  professions  in  the  possibilities  underlying  such 
science,  give  promise  of  better  conditions  in  the  near  future 
with  regard  to  ventilating  and  lighting  buildings  for  the  chil- 
dren and  young  people  than  have  yet  been  worked  out." 

Sir  John  Gorst  in  "The  Children  of  the  Nation,"  records 
the  results  of  a  scientific  investigation  into  the  condition  of  the 
atmosphere  in  schools  in  Manchester  and  Salford  made  by 
Dr.  Bayley  of  Owen's  College.  "He  classified  the  schools 

32 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


examined  into  five  classes  according  to  the  degree  of  foul  air 
and  smell  which  prevailed  in  them.  No  school  rose  to  the 
first  or  second  class.  There  were  only  two  in  the  third  class, 
and  in  them  the  class  rooms  were  reported  to  have  '  air  very 
oppressive,  giving  rise  to  headache.'  In  other  schools,  'the 
odor  in  the  class  rooms  especially  was  simply  unbearable.' 
The  air  was  tested  for  carbonic  acid  gas.  The  standard  accepted 
in  the  wards  of  hospitals  is  that  if  there  are  more  than  6  parts 
in  10,000  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  the  air  is  regarded  as  polluted 
and  unfit  for  the  patients  to  breathe.  Not  one  of  the  schools 
examined  came  within  the  unpolluted  zone.  In  the  best 
school  there  were  7  parts  in  10,000,  and  10  in  the  class  rooms; 
in  the  worst  12.8  parts  in  10,000,  and  14.5  in  the  class  rooms. 
The  air  was  also  tested  for  micro-organisms.  Pure  mountain 
air  is  quite  free  from  micro-organisms,  and  air  in  the  streets 
of  Paris  contains  only  25  per  cubic  foot,  whereas  it  was  found 
in  one  of  the  Salford  schools  examined  that  in  the  infant  school 
there  were  213  micro-organisms  per  cubic  foot;  in  the  boys' 
school,  236 ;  and  in  the  girls'  school,  286.  In  many  town  schools 
there  is  now  excellent  ventilation,  but  many  are  still  in  the 
condition  in  which  Manchester  schools  were  when  examined 
by  Dr.  Bay  ley.  In  the  country,  especially,  where  there  is  the 
best  of  air  all  around  the  schools  waiting  to  be  let  in,  the  air 
which  the  children  are  made  to  breathe  is  atrociously  bad." 

Bad  ventilation  is  not  confined  to  the  schools.  Theaters, 
street  cars,  public  halls  and  conveyances,  transgress  equally. 
But  the  schools  are  the  only  places  where  the  law  compels 
attendance.  It  is  a  serious  matter  when  a  school  into  which 
a  child  is  forced  actually  contributes  to  his  decline.  The  dull 
and  backward  pupil  who  cannot  get  his  lessons  is  often  kept 
after  school.  He  has  sat  for  hours  at  a  rigid  desk  in  an  un- 
natural posture,  in  an  overheated  room,  the  overdry,  thirsty 
air  sapping  his  already  wilted  system,  the  windows  of  the 
school  never  opened  because  the  janitor,  the  ventilating  en- 

33 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


gineer,  and  perhaps  the  teacher,  who  likes  to  have  the  ther- 
mometer seventy-five  or  higher,  say,  No.  To  meet  such  con- 
ditions, which  are  common  in  every  part  of  the  country,  some. 
sort  of  community  plan  for  fresh  air  education  is  necessary. 

In  a  recent  number  of  a  standard  periodical,  Burton  Hend- 
ricks  described  the  steps  which  Chicago  is  taking  in  this  direc- 
tion under  the  title  of  "  Oxygenizing  a  City."  The  three- 
year-old  son  of  a  Chicago  physician  puts  it  with  equal  pic- 
turesqueness  when  he  says:  "  Well,  daddy,  it  is  time  for  me  to 
go  out  and  fresh-air  myself." 

For  several  reasons  a  community  plan  for  "fresh-airing 
itself"  properly  begins  with  the  public  schools.  They  are  the 
only  places  where  large  public  gatherings  are  compelled  by 
law,  and  as  such  they  are  directly  under  the  control  of  the  law. 
The  law  cannot  interfere  with  a  man's  home  unless  conditions 
there  constitute  a  nuisance.  It  can  and  does  send  his  children 
to  school,  even  though  health  conditions  there  place  the 
school  itself  in  the  nuisance  class.  But  public  education 
must  not  be  miseducation.  The  school  reaches  into  every 
home  and  draws  into  itself  for  the  precious  period  of  childhood 
each  young  life  in  its  turn.  Any  lessons  in  right  living  suc- 
cessfully taught  in  the  schools  immediately  react  upon  the 
home;  for  in  reality  it  is  the  children,  not  adults,  that  make 
the  home. 

The  child  who  has  sat  all  day  in  a  well-ventilated  school- 
room will  not  submit  to  sleeping  in  a  steam-heated  flat  with 
all  the  windows  closed.  Children  are  more  easily  accustomed 
to  a  change  in  temperature  than  adults;  they  respond  more 
quickly  to  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  fresh  air.  The  dis- 
satisfaction with  present  methods  of  ventilation  in  the  public 
schools  is  so  widespread  among  both  parents  and  educators 
that  the  ends  sought  by  the  fresh  air  school  movement  meet 
with  universal  approval. 

As  a  first  step  in  a  fresh  air  program,  try  the  air  the  pupils 

35 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


are  getting  now.  Get  an  expert  ventilating  engineer  from 
another  city  to  make  careful  tests  in  every  school.  The 
local  papers  will  be  glad  to  publish  the  results.  But  do  not 
stop  there.  Get  members  of  your  Woman's  Club  to  visit  the 
assembly  halls  and  class  rooms,  and  notice  the  effect  upon  your 
own  brains  of  the  air  which  the  children  are  compelled  to 
breathe  five  hours  a  day.  A  thermometer  will  give  the 
temperature  and  a  simple  device  called  a  hygrometer  (a  little 
instrument  about  the  size  of  a  watch  and  costing  around  two 
dollars  and  a  half)  will  give  an  idea  as  to  the  humidity. 

A  Chicago  physician  visited  the  schools  in  an  Iowa  town, 
and  found  the  thermometer  ranging  from  73  to  86,  with  condi- 
tions of  humidity  correspondingly  bad.  He  also  visited  a 
number  of  factories  in  the  town  and  found  the  conditions  there 
uniformly  better  than  in  the  schools. 

Undoubtedly,  the  temperature  is  often  too  high  in  most  of 
our  schools,  with  consequent  over-dryness  of  the  air.  The 
range  of  temperature  set  by  the  Chicago  school  board  is 
minimum  68  and  maximum  72.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the 
discomfort  of  an  overheated  room,  and  while  fresh,  pure  air  is 
the  prime  consideration,  overheating  causes  its  own  discom- 
forts and  stupefying  effects. 

One  of  the  elements  of  difficulty  in  the  situation  is  the 
method  of  dress  on  the  part  of  both  pupils  and  teachers.  No 
one  can  expect  two  girls  sitting  side  by  side  to  be  comfortable 
in  the  same  temperature,  one  with  heavy  underwear  and  a 
woolen  dress,  while  the  bare  skin  of  the  other  shows  through  a 
lingerie  waist.  If  each  one  knows  beforehand  about  where  the 
mercury  will  stand,  there  is  a  possibility  of  dressing  accordingly, 
and  there  need  be  no  just  grounds  for  complaint  from  the 
parents. 

Do  not  be  dismayed  if  the  new  significance  of  ventilation 
and  fresh  air  discredits  the  system  of  which  you  have  been 
so  proud.  You  have  one  great  known  quantity.  There  is 

36 


37 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


an  abundance  of  fresh  air  outside  every  door.  A  good  teacher, 
a  live  school  board,  or  an  interested  citizen  can  often  turn  the 
tide  and  get  something  done.  "I  now  think,"  said  a  nurse, 
"that  my  district  school  teacher  saved  me  from  tuberculosis. 
I  had  pneumonia  when  I  was  seven  and  my  chest  was  left 
weak.  The  teacher  opened  all  the  windows  and  gave  us 
gymnastic  and  deep  breathing  exercises  after  each  recitation. 
We  loved  it  because  she  liked  it  so  well.  All  weakness  of  my 
chest  disappeared  that  year." 

The  ventilation  of  that  little  community  school  house  was 
just  as  bad  as  it  ever  had  been,  but  the  teacher  dominated  the 
situation  and  saved  the  day.  If  your  mechanical  system  is 
so  fussy  that  it  is  thrown  out  of  commission  when  a  window  is 
opened,  turn  it  off,  excuse  the  whole  system  for  a  few  minutes, 
open  windows  and  doors  and  flush  the  room. 

In  working  out  a  program,  all  the  elements  to  be  dealt  with 
must  be  understood.  Medical  inspection  should  be  a  part  of 
the  school  regime  in  every  community.  No  program  can  be 
complete  without  it.  Every  child  has  a  physical  individuality 
as  well  as  a  mental,  and  it  is  as  necessary  to  consider  physical 
condition  as  mental  aptitude.  The  majority  of  children  in 
every  community  are  probably  fairly  normal,  and  the  thing 
to  be  kept  in  mind  all  the  time  is  that  the  whole  one  hundred 
per  cent  have  the  right  to  proper  ventilation  and  hygienic 
conditions. 

In  Germany  and  Switzerland  the  law  requires  all  the  chil- 
dren to  get  out  of  the  school  house  into  the  open  for  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes  out  of  every  individual  hour.  If  your  children 
can't  go  outdoors  so  often  they  can  exercise  while  windows 
are  open. 

The  friends  of  the  open  air  school  movement  are  interested 
in  all  of  the  children  and  will  be  content  with  nothing  short 
of  right  conditions  for  the  whole  one  hundred  per  cent.  How- 
ever, there  are  in  school  beside  the  normal  children  constitut- 

38 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


ing  the  largest  group,  certain  pupils  who  are  anaemic  and 
physically  sub -normal,  and  a  third  group,  smaller  but  in 
more  definite  need,  where  there  are  distinct  evidences  of 
tubercular  infection. 

For  children  who  are  anaemic  and  underfed,  easily  ex- 
hausted and  nervous,  the  open  window  room,  with  its  sup- 
plemental feeding,  its  period  of  rest,  better  understanding 
of  the  needs  and  possibilities  of  each  individual  child,  is 
something  within  reach  of  almost?  any  community.  The 
rigid  desks  can  be  removed  and  tables  and  chairs  supple- 
mented; cots  put  in  the  room,  and  the  extra  expense  of  cloth- 
ing and  food  can  be  met  by  churches,  women's  clubs  or  other 
organizations.  For  the  third  group,  the  open  air  school  with 
its  more  complete  regime  is  best  suited  to  the  physical  demands 
of  the  children. 

Building  up  the  resistance  of  children  is  a  necessary  part 
of  the  warfare  against  tuberculosis  and  it  ought  to  be  possible 
to  provide  for  any  necessary  feeding  of  school  children  through 
the  forces  organized  to  combat  the  tuberculosis  situation. 

In  every  community  of  considerable  size  there  should  also 
be  provision  for  sanatorium  treatment  in  cases  of  open  tuber- 
culosis among  the  children.  This  part  should  also  be  pro- 
vided for  through  active  co-operation  with  the  forces  dealing 
with  tuberculosis  in  the  community. 

In  all  three  classes  of  children  will  be  found  nose  and  throat 
defects,  adenoids  and  enlarged  tonsils,  difficulties  of  ears  and 
eyes.  Medical  inspection  should  not  only  detect  physical  sub- 
normalities  but  a  follow-up  system  should  correct  them. 

The  principals  of  various  graded  schools  in  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  are  this  year  requested  by  the  Superintendent  to 
report  the  names  of  children  who  manifest  a  lack  of  vitality 
and  energy,  or  who  become  easily  fatigued,  as  candidates  for 
the  fresh  air  treatment. 

The  spectacle  of  a  roomful  of  children,  inattentive,  yawn- 

39 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


ing  and  listless,  is  a  familiar  sight.  One  morning  a  professor 
said  to  a  pupil:  " Young  man,  do  you  know  that  you  fell 
asleep  during  the  lecture  this  morning?"  The  youth  replied: 
"Now,  isn't  that  funny?  Do  you  know  you  are  the  third 


PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY  AT  CAMP  ALGONQUIN 

professor  who  has  spoken  to  me  about  that  this  morning?" 
The  rest  period  in  these  schools  is  very  profitable  to  the  chil- 
dren. It  is  better  for  a  roomful  of  children  to  make  a  success 
of  going  to  sleep  for  a  period  than  to  be  making  half  successful 
efforts  to  keep  awake  through  a  whole  session. 

Detroit  offers  a  happy  example  in  fresh  air  work.     During 
good  weather  whole  classes  are  taken  regularly  to  the  lawns 

40 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


which  surround  most  of  the  schools,  and  lessons  are  studied 
and  recited  in  the  open,  with  pupils  100  per  cent  attentive 
and  efficient.  In  the  first  two  months  of  the  experiment, 
September  to  October,  1910,  6,326  class  sessions  were  con- 
ducted in  this  way.  The  verdict  from  teachers  and  pupils 
was  so  heartily  in  its  favor  that  the  number  of  outdoor 
classes  has  steadily  increased  ever  since.  "No  teacher  who 
has  tried  it  has  found  difficulty  with  the  discipline,"  say  the 
principals. 

Detroit  is  considered  fortunate  in  the  location  of  her 
schools,  but  she  is  no  more  fortunate  than  every  other  city 
ought  to  be.  It  is  a  public  misfortune  deliberately  to  choose 
sites  for  school  buildings  where  the  very  nature  of  the  loca- 
tion makes  a  playground  with  grass  and  trees  forever  im- 
possible, or  where  noise  and  dirt  hourly  rack  the  nerves  of 
pupils.  Few  cities  plan  ahead  for  school  sites. 

Fletcher  B.  Dressier  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion tells  how  an  unusually  intelligent  board  of  education, com- 
posed largely  of  college-bred  men,  including  three  physicians, 
selected  a  school  site.  A  new  school  building  was  to  be  erected 
in  their  thriving  town  where  people  always  gave  hearty 
support  to  any  educational  project.  "There  happened  to  be 
for  sale  a  rather  large  block  of  land  in  topographically  the 
lowest  part  of  the  town.  It  was  a  worthless  piece  of  ground  and 
had  been  shunned  even  by  manufacturing  establishments 
because  it  was  low  and  wet.  To  the  east  was  a  livery  stable, 
on  the  west,  a  block  away,  a  flouring  mill  and  a  railway  with 
noisy,  smoky  engines  frequently  tugging  trains  up  a  heavy 
grade.  To  the  south,  running  along  the  edge  of  the  grounds, 
was  a  little  stream,  which  of  necessity  carried  away  surface 
water  from  the  public  streets.  The  bed  of  this  stream  was 
barely  six  feet  lower  than  the  foundation  of  the  building. 
Upon  this  site  a  large  brick  building  was  erected,  and  into  it 
hundreds  of  the  children  of  the  town  were  gathered." 

41 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


A  central  location  is  desirable,  but  town  planning  ought  to 
make  the  schools  one  of  the  first  considerations. 

A  growing  town  in  Iowa  reserves  a  block  in  every  section 
of  given  size  for  schoolhouse  purposes. 

Mr.  Wm.  A.  Wirt,  superintendent  of  schools  of  Gary, 
Indiana,  has  made  a  notable  contribution  in  his  use  of  the 
playground  as  an  integral  part  of  the  school  plant  and  regime. 
Not  only  does  it  help  to  educate  through  recreation  but  it 
gives  pupils  more  time  in  the  open  and  by  rotating  makes  it 
possible  for  a  given  school  plant  to  care  for  more  children. 
Winnetka,  Illinois,  has  recently  adopted  the  Gary  plan  with 
the  result  that  all  the  children  in  all  the  schools  of  that  town 
are  in  the  open  much  more  than  before.  The  duration  of  the 
experiment  is  yet  too  brief  to  afford  any  conclusions  but  the 
promo  tors  are  giving  their  best  thought  and  effort  to  the 
schools  and  are  focusing  their  attention  on  the  children.  They 
are  trying  to  make  the  school  fit  the  children. 

In  our  congested  cities  one  asset  has  been,  with  but  few 
exceptions,  entirely  overlooked — the  roofs  of  buildings.  Often 
where  the  street  air  is  polluted  by  smoke,  gas  and  dirt,  the  air 
three  or  four  stories  up  will  be  found  much  purer  and  in  more 
active  circulation.  In  congested  parts  of  the  city  the  roof 
offers  a  good  opportunity  for  additional  playground  space  for 
open  air  schools  and  open  air  classes.  The  roof  ought  to  be 
taken  into  consideration,  always,  when  the  school  house  is 
built.  However,  in  many  buildings  where  this  has  not  been 
done,  it  costs  comparatively  little  to  render  the  roof  accessible, 
and  a  few  benches  or  chairs  and  tents  or  awnings  will  do  the 
rest. 

There  are  thousands  of  acres  of  unused  roofs  in  every  city, 
in  the  fashionable  apartment  region,  as  well  as  in  the  tenement 
district,  beneath  which  people  swelter  in  summer  in  a  wholly 
unnecessary  fashion ;  for  relief  is  literally  at  their  door.  Here 
is  an  opportunity  to  "sit  on  the  lid"  with  a  two-fold  benefit. 

42 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


No  community  program  for  fresh  air  is  complete  that  ignores 
the  possibilities  of  the  roof. 

With  the  rediscovery  of  the  benefits  of  outdoor  life  is 
discernible  a  new  type  of  architecture  both  for  school  build- 
ings and  dwellings.  New  apartments  advertise  sleeping 
porches  among  their  leading  attractions.  The  "  Wan  ted 
to  Rent"  columns  of  the  press,  with  increasing  frequency, 
carry  requests  for  bed-rooms  with  sleeping  porches.  The 
perambulator  of  the  scientifically-brought-up  infant  no  longer 
stands  by  the  nursery  fire  during  the  baby's  nap;  it  is  out  on 
the  porch  or  the  screened-in  veranda. 

Says  Dr.  Thomas  Carrington,  in  his  recently  published 
book  on  " Fresh  Air  and  How  to  Use  It":  "The  increasing 
demand  for  sleeping  porches  and  other  fresh  air  living  apart- 
ments has  recently  brought  about  numerous  changes  in  the 
planning  of  dwellings,  and  one  may  say  perhaps  without  ex- 
aggeration that  a  new  type  of  architecture  has  been  developed. 
Sleeping  porches,  loggias,  open  air  living  and  dining  rooms,  sun 
parlors  and  numerous  windows  are  replacing  the  rooms  which 
a  few  years  ago  were  considered  comfortable  when  snugly  in- 
closed, but  which  it  is  believed  had  much  to  do  with  the  great 
increase  of  tuberculous  disease  in  the  nineteenth  century." 

Following  the  introduction  of  fresh  air  info  the  school,  must 
come  proper  ventilation  in  the  home,  and  in  accomplishing  this 
end,  the  20,000,000  school  children  are  our  greatest  asset. 
When  the  necessity  of  ventilation  and  hygienic  living  become 
matters  of  conviction  and  general  understanding,  the  well-to- 
do  will  insist  upon  embodying  the  new  ideas  in  their  homes  and 
the  necessity  of  a  wage  which  will  put  the  possibility  of  whole- 
some, efficient  living  within  the  reach  of  every  person  who  is 
honestly  helping  to  do  the  world's  work  will  be  more  than  ever 
apparent. 

For  we  must  admit  with  Dr.  S.  A.  Knopf,  that  the 
"air  which  the  masses  get  in  a  crowded  tenement  district 

43 


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44 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


is  not  pure  enough  to  make  them  strong,  vigorous  and  resistent 
to  disease,  even  if  they  keep  their  windows  open.  Not  until 
we  insist  upon  lower  buildings  and  wider  streets,  particularly 
in  our  tenement  house  districts,  whereby  more  sunlight 
can  enter  their  habitations ;  not  until  our  old  tenement  houses, 


A  CLEVELAND,  OHIO,  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL 

and  particularly  our  murderous  lung-blocks,  are  replaced  by 
model  tenement  houses;  not  until  we  have  interspaced  these 
model  tenement  houses  by  multiple  parks  and  playgrounds; 
not  until  this  fearful  congestion  which  is  now  the  curse  of  our 
civilization  has  been  done  away  with ;  not  until  the  suburbs  of 
our  large  cities  are  utilized  for  individual  homes  of  the  masses ; 
not  until  our  facilities  will  enable  the  laborer  to  travel  in  com- 
fort and  with  rapidity  to  his  sanitary  home;  not  until  we  have 

45 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


given  him  the  opportunity  to  live  modestly  but  decently  in  a 
home  somewhat  closer  to  nature  than  the  dark,  dreary  tene- 
ment houses  of  our  overcrowded  cities,  will  we  be  able  to 
speak  of  an  improvement  of  hygiene  of  this  class  of  city 
dwellers." 

Here  the  open  air  crusaders  join  hands  with  all  the  other 
agencies  for  civic  betterment.  In  trying  to  put  this  one  vital 
necessity,  fresh  air,  within  the  reach  of  everyone  we  must  help 
along  the  Good  Housing  Commissions,  the  Playground  Asso- 
ciations, the  Charity  Organization  Societies,  the  Public  Health 
Leagues,  the  Parent-Teacher  Clubs,  the  Infant  Welfare  Com- 
mittees, and  all  the  other  forces  which  are  working  together  to 
make  our  cities  a  safer  place  for  us  and  for  our  children. 
When  school  and  home  know  the  physical  benefits  of  proper 
ventilation,  we  shall  not  have  to  wait  long  for  the  passage  of 
ordinances  which  will  compel  theaters  and  churches  to  fall  into 
line.  Offices  and  places  of  business  all  recognize  the  increased 
efficiency  of  the  employees  which  comes  when  good  air  is 
supplied  them.  In  one  large  office  in  Chicago  last  winter  at 
the  end  of  each  hour  a  man  was  detailed  to  open  all  the  win- 
dows and  the  employees  were  encouraged  to  leave  their  desks 
and  exercise  freely  for  five  minutes.  The  working  efficiency  of 
the  force  was  greatly  increased.  Our  public  conveyances, 
and  all  inclosed  spaces  where  large  numbers  of  people  meet 
together  for  pleasure  or  for  business,  must  conform  to  the 
new  standards  of  the  community  or  lose  their  custom. 

In  the  Child  Welfare  Exhibit  in  Chicago  a  section  was  set 
apart  for  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  Schools.  The 
little  tent  with  open  windows  and  the  snow  laden  pine  trees 
were  faithfully  reproduced.  Among  the  trees  stood  large 
screens  which  described  by  photographs  and  printed  signs 
the  work  which  the  schools  were  doing  in  Chicago.  One  day 
a  little  Italian  girl  who  looked  not  more  than  twelve,  stood  for 
a  long  time  studying  the  screens.  The  attendant  in  charge 

46 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


of  the  exhibit  went  up  to  her  and  explained  about  the  schools, 
showing  her  how  the  pupils  gained  in  weight,  and  how  they 
learned  better  and  grew  strong  and  well  in  the  outdoor  air. 
Thinking  she  had  won  a  convert  to  the  cause  —  for  the  chiM  ~ 


How  CLEVELAND  CARES  FOR  HER  SCHOOL  CHILDREN 

was  painfully  thin  and  pale  —  the  explainer  asked  in  conclu- 
sion, "And  how  would  you  like  to  go  to  such  a  school?"  only 
to  be  withered  by  the  scornful  reply,  "Huh!  no  open  air 
school  for  me!  Open  air  factory!" 

Any  community  plan  for  fresh  air  education  is  incom- 
plete which  stops  short  with  the  schools  and  the  homes,  and 
ignores  the  fact  that  in  the  factories,  the  department  stores,  the 
offices,  the  dressmaking  shops,  and  the  tailoring  establishments, 

47 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


where  the  boys  and  girls  of  to-day  will  be  working  tomorrow, 
conditions  must  also  be  made  right.  We  pay  heavy  toll  each 
year  in  preventable  deaths  from  foul  air  diseases  for  our  dis- 
regard of  the  simple  requirements  of  nature. 

Experts  say  that  if  all  the  epileptics  and  feeble-minded 
persons  could  be  completely  segregated  for  the  life  of  one 
generation  epilepsy  and  idiocy  would  be  largely  stamped  out. 
Perhaps  if  a  single  generation  could  grow  up  to  maturity  and 
beget  its  children  in  the  free  gospel  of  the  open  air,  tuberculosis, 
pneumonia,  grip,  catarrh,  and  all  the  loathsome  brotherhood  of 
foul  air  ills  would  pass  away  forever. 

However  that  may  be,  our  course  is  plain.  It  is  our  busi- 
ness to  get  fresh  air,  in  the  schools,  in  the  homes,  in  churches 
and  theaters  and  places  of  public  resort,  and  in  factories, 
offices  and  shops.  No  community  plan  for  fresh  air  educa- 
tion can  afford  to  ignore  any  place  where  men  and  women 
and  little  children  sleep  or  play  or  work. 


The  need  of  protecting  the  child  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
about  fifty  per  cent  of  children  living  in  the  crowded  districts 
become  infected  by  the  time  they  are  five  years  old.  Regula- 
tion of  home  conditions,  better  school  hygiene,  the  segrega- 
tion of  actively  tuberculous  children,  and  open  air  schools  for 
those  who  have  latent  tuberculosis  are  measures  that  should 
be  applied  more  extensively;  the  more  so  because  the  child 
shows  a  strong  tendency  to  recover,  and  the  application  of  open 
air  methods  seems  even  more  effectual  in  children  than  in  adults 
in  preventing  and  curing  the  disease. 

TRUDEAU. 


48 


CHOOLGRAM; 

HAT  shall  it  profit  a  child  if  he  gain 
the  whole  curriculum  and  lose  his 
health? 


HE  only  air  available  from  dark  till 
sunrise  is  "night  air."  Breathe  it. 

WO  things  of  which  there  is  enough 
for  all  — fresh  air  and  sunshine.  Get 
yours. 


SWITZERLAND  requires  her  school 
children  to  be  in  the  open  air  at  least 
ten  minutes  out  of  every  school  hour. 

EACH  your  children  to  make  a  child- 
hood friend  of  the  open  air. 

QUESTION  that  should  be  asked 
about  the  ventilating  system  of  every 
school— Does  it  ventilate? 


;HE  only  night  air  that  is  injurious  is 
last  night's.  Open  the  window  and 
let  it  out. 


49 


CANDIDATES  FOR  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  TREATMENT 


INFECTION  THROUGH  FOOD 

The  man,  who  is  in  the  third  degree  of  tuberculosis,  and  who  coughs  constantly,  is  cutting  cabbage 
for  the  winter  supply  of  sauerkraut  for  the  family 

50 


HOME  AND  SCHOOL— A  STUDY  IN  SOCIAL 
BACKGROUNDS 


The  open  air  schools  of  Chicago 
are  located  in  parts  of  the  city 
where  the  presence  of  a  congested 
population,  housed  in  crowded 
tenements,  makes  a  fresh  air  ob- 
ject lesson  particularly  desirable. 
The  prevalence  of  tuberculosis  in 
such  districts  led  Dr.  Trudeau  to 
express  the  belief  that  fully  fifty 
per  cent  of  the  children  living 
under  such  conditions  become  in- 
fected by  the  time  they  are  five 
years  old.  "The  air  is  so  strong 
in  Michigan,"  said  one  young 
Polish  woman  who  returned  unex- 
pectedly soon  from  her  first  sum- 
mer outing  on  the  lake-shore, —  "it  is  too  strong;  it  make  me 
sick."  Her  home  was  close  to  a  railroad  track  with  a  gas 
tank  on  one  side  and  the  stockyards  on  the  other,  and  she 
had  grown  up  literally  surrounded  by  smells.  Her  sallow 
skin  and  colorless  face  showed  plainly,  as  did  her  narrow 
chest  and  stooping  shoulders,  the  results  of  trying  to  live 
without  breathing  any  more  than  she  could  help.  She  is  a 
type  familiar  to  every  social  worker.  Bad  housing,  bad  air, 
bad  food,  the  fatal  trinity  of  the  poor,  take  heavy  toll  among 
the  children;  but  perhaps  even  more  to  be  pitied  than  those 
who  die  are  those  who  live,  and  for  whom  the  most  we  can 

51 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


reasonably  hope  is  that  they  may  take  a  feeble  place  in  the 
great  army  of  the  unfit. 

Perhaps  the  heaviest  burden  laid  upon  charitable  societies 
from  any  single  cause  is  that  which  results  from  tuberculosis. 
It  has  for  many  years  constituted  a  great  relief  problem,  but 
with  the  development  of  a  system  of  tuberculosis  clinics  in  any 
large  city,  a  new  and  magnified  duty  as  well  as  a  new  opportu- 
nity are  laid  upon  the  heart  and  conscience  of  its  charity 
workers.  Every  day  brings  to  their  attention,  men,  women 
and  children  who  can  be  saved  if  given  a  chance.  This  has 
been  demonstrated  again  and  again  in  every  large  city,  but 
the  price  must  be  paid.  We  recently  made  a  study  of  the 
income  in  twro  hundred  families  in  which  there  is  one  or  more 
cases  of  tuberculosis.  These  families  were  living  on  an 
average  income  of  about  six  dollars  a  week.  The  average 
number  of  rooms  per  family  was  a  little  over  three. 

You  cannot  have  consumption  in  three  rooms  on  six  dollars 
a  week  with  any  success.  The  poor  cannot  afford  it;  the 
community  cannot  afford  it.  The  entire  budget  of  the  best 
financed  charity  organization  in  the  world  cannot  adequately 
provide  diets,  sleeping  appliances  for  porches,  better  living 
quarters,  rent  and  an  equivalent  for  wages  which  will  give 
necessary  cessation  from  toil  to  the  victims  of  the  disease. 
The  only  salvation  is  prevention.  Direct  warfare  against  the 
"White  Plague"  must  be  supplemented  by  flank  movements 
which  will  make  more  and  more  territory  impossible  for  the 
disease.  Increased  resistance  and  bodily  vigor  are  essential 
and  the  foundations  must  be  laid  in  childhood. 

It  is  not  easy  and  sometimes  not  possible,  to  avoid  the 
strain  put  upon  persons  by  the  stress  of  home  and  business 
life,  but  it  should  be  entirely  within  our  power  to  modify  or 
altogether  remove  harmful  conditions  and  excessive  strain 
in  connection  with  school  life.  The  futility  of  trying  to 
stretch  every  youthful  mind  to  fit  an  "average"  which  exists 

52 


s*1§ 

£i«B 
%%%& 
a«|e 

H8sJ 
1141 


53 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


only  in  imagination  is  as  evident  as  the  impropriety  of  forcing 
a  twelve-year-old  body  into  a  seat  built  for  an  eight-year-old. 
In  the  attempt  to  adjust  school  conditions  to  the  child,  it 
is  necessary  to  know  the  kind  of  home  from  which  he  comes. 
New  York  City  now  employs,  in  certain  of  its  schools,  visitors 
who  call  at  the  homes  of  the  pupils  to  secure  just  such  informa- 
tion on  doubtful  cases.  The  school-nurse,  if  she  be  a  person 
with  a  social  viewpoint,  can  be  of  great  service  to  the  teacher 
in  interpreting  unexcused  absences  and  unprepared  lessons. 
She  can  also  explain  to  the  mother  why  Solomon  must  be 
vaccinated,  and  can  threaten  the  father  with  court  if  Tony 
is  kept  out  of  school  to  sell  papers.  In  the  Elizabeth  McCor- 
mick  schools  a  special  nurse  from  the  Municipal  Tuberculosis 
Sanitarium  is  detailed  to  work  up  co-operation  in  the  home. 
Her  work  takes  her  among  almost  every  nationality  repre- 
sented in  the  melting-pot,  as  the  following  table  shows: 

NATIONALITIES  REPRESENTED  IN  THE  ELIZABETH  McCORMIGK 
OPEN   AIR   SCHOOLS,    1911-12 

Jewish 79  Canadian 5 

American 59  Austrian 5 

Irish 38  French 3 

German 37  Russian 3 

Italian 33  Scotch 3 

Bohemian 25  Hungarian 2 

Polish 16  Belgian 2 

Negro 12  Slav I 

Swedish         8  Welch i 

English 7  Dutch I 

Norwegian •     .  6  Records  incomplete       .      .      .      .  16 


Roumanian  . 


5 


That  the  "Ghetto,"  "Little  Italy"  and  the  "Black  Belt" 
contribute  more  than  their  share  of  the  children  who  come  to 
the  open  air  school  for  treatment  is  to  be  expected  by  any  one 
familiar  with  the  location  of  the  schools  and  the  conditions 
under  wrhich  these  citizens  in  the  making  must  grow  up.  The 
families  from  which  they  come  are  large:  7,  6,  6,  6,  6,  7,  7,  8, 
6,  6,  6,  run  the  averages  of  the  families  represented  in  the 

54 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


eleven  different  schools.  The  average  number  of  rooms  for 
the  families  represented  in  nine  schools  was  four;  for  the  other 
two  schools,  five.  The  fathers  worked,  for  the  most  part, 
at  unskilled  trades,  earning  about  $12.00  a  week.  In  many 
cases  the  mother  had  been  left  alone,  to  become  the  bread 
winner  for  fatherless  little  ones  and  considered  herself  fortu- 
nate if  there  were  older  brothers  and  sisters  ready  to  contribute 
their  small  earnings  to  eke  out  the 
family  support. 

More  often  than  not,  the  rooms 
were  dark  and  poorly  ventilated. 
Some  of  these  children  were  sleeping 
in  bedrooms  with  no  windows  at  all 
or  with  ventilators  that  opened  only 
upon  narrow  courts.  In  one  family 
where  the  father  had  died  of  tuber- 
culosis after  a  ten  years'  illness,  and 
where  the  mother  had  been  coughing 
and  spitting  blood  for  five  years,  there 
were  six  children,  four  of  them  in  the 
first  stages  of  tuberculosis,  with  intes- 
tinal complications,  probably  tuber- 
cular. Of  the  two  bedrooms  in  their  second  floor  rear  flat, 
one  was  fairly  good,  the  other  opened  on  the  "bathroom  and 
had  no  other  source  of  ventilation. 

In  John's  basement  home  a  kind  landlord  had  sealed  up  all 
the  windows  and  it  was  impossible  to  open  any  of  them. 

Mildred  and  her  sister  slept  in  an  eight-by-ten  bedroom 
which  had  one  small  window,  less  than  one  foot  from  the  next 
building. 

Even  where  there  were  possibilities  of  ventilation,  it  was 
sometimes  hard  to  get  it.  Frances  was  one  of  thirteen  children 
who  lived  in  a  little  frame  cottage  directly  back  of  the  stock- 
yards. Her  father  had  suffered  many  years  from  tuberculosis, 

55 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


but  the  visiting  nurse  had  never  been  able  to  induce  him  to  take 
the  slightest  precautions.  He  expectorated  in  the  sink  and  on 
the  floor  and  forbade  any  one  to  open  a  window.  The  only  out- 
side air  which  this  family  of  fifteen  got  at  night  came  through  a 
broken  window  glass  which  they  were  too  poor  to  replace. 

Morris  and  his  father,  who  had  been  coughing  for  a  year, 
slept  together  in  a  basement  bedroom.  The  mother  was 
"  afraid  of  the  night  air,"  and  the  one  window  could  be  opened 
"just  a  crack." 

Six  out  of  ten  tuberculous  is  the  ghastly  record  of  the 
family  from  which  Margaret  and  John  came  to  the  open  air 
school.  They  lived  over  a  rag-shop,  and  not  until  the  place 
was  finally  condemned  by  the  Health  Department  did  the 
family  remove  to  more  sanitary  surroundings. 

Not  all  the  open  air  school  pupils  came  from  such  surround- 
ings, but  the  large  majority  of  them  did,  and  one  of  the  most 
hopeful  things  about  the  whole  undertaking  is  the  remarkable 
way  in  which  these  children  responded  to  better  influences. 
If  the  same  response  could  be  secured  from  the  parents,  the 
battle  would  be  half  won;  and  most  of  them  do  respond  to 
evidences  of  sustained  and  vital  interest  in  their  children. 

The  nurse  finds  many  mothers  who  are  glad  to  co-operate 
with  the  purposes  of  the  school.  They  will  gladly  put  a  cot 
on  the  porch  roof,  or  change  the  sleeping  arrangements  of  the 
family  so  that  the  tubercular  child  may  have  a  bed  to  himself 
near  an  open  window.  They  will  get  him  to  bed  by  eight 
o'clock,  despite  his  pleadings  for  the  nickel  show.  They  will 
deprive  themselves  of  proper  clothing  that  he  may  be  warmly 
clad.  In  such  homes,  poor  though  they  may  be,  the  task  is 
comparatively  easy;  for  where  real  destitution  exists,  aid  may 
always  be  secured  through  charitable  agencies  which  stand 
ready  to  provide  extra  beds,  bedding,  underwear,  overcoats, 
rubbers,  special  diets,  and  the  expense  of  securing  a  better 
apartment. 

56 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


The  discouraging  element  is  found  in  the  parent  who 
through  ignorance,  indifference,  viciousness  or  laziness,  will 
take  no  part  in  helping  the  child. 

To  the  foreign  parent  who  is  apt  to  regard  his  son  as  a 
potential  wage-earner  and  to  resent  any  outside  claim  upon 
him  after  his  fourteenth  year,  the  open  air  school  must  be 
presented  upon  an  economic  basis.  If  he  can  once  be  con- 


CAXVAS  TENT  IN  SCHOOL  YARD  USED  BY  CHICAGO  TUBERCULOSIS  INSTITUTE 
FOR  ITS  SUMMER  SCHOOL 

vinced  that  the  only  way  in  which  his  son  will  ever  be  any- 
thing more  than  a  burden  to  the  family  is  to  strengthen  him 
against  disease  through  his  school  years,  he  may  become  a 
strong  advocate  of  fresh  air  as  a  curative  agent. 

Glancing  over  the  family  history  cards  of  the  pupils,  the 
investigator  came  to  one  where  the  nationality  was  marked 
''Unknown."  The  teacher  explained  that  the  mother  was  a 
prostitute  in  the  South  Side  levee.  "No  one  knows  who 
or  what  his  father  is.  The  mother  gives  the  child  food  some- 

57 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


times,  and  shelter  almost  always,  but  there  her  responsi- 
bilities cease.  The  truant  officer  found  him  one  day  and  sent 
him  to  us.  What  he  has  seen  and  heard  we  cannot  surmise, 
but  of  one  thing  I  am  certain:  his  mind  is  pure,  even  if  his 
body  is  tainted." 

It  is  hard  to  make  much  impression  on  such  homes.  In 
general,  however,  the  interest  in  the  open  air  school  pupil 
leads  to  a  knowledge  of  his  home,  and,  as  a  rule,  interest  springs 
forth  to  meet  interest  and  gratitude  replies  to  sympathy. 

Frank  and  Joseph  lived  with  their  mother  and  little  sister 
on  the  third  floor  rear  of  a  crowded  tenement.  The  father 
deserted  and  went  back  to  Bohemia  just  before  the  sister 
was  born.  The  mother  made  an  uncertain  living  by  finishing 
coats,  at  which  she  seldom  earned  as  much  as  three  dollars  a 
week.  The  children  helped  by  pulling  basting  thread. 
When  found,  the  woman  was  in  the  incipient  stages  of  tuber- 
culosis and  her  eyesight  was  failing  fast.  Dispensary  treat- 
ment and  glasses  were  provided  and  the  family  was  pensioned 
for  six  months  so  that  the  mother  could  take  a  rest.  She 
obeyed  instructions,  responded  readily  to  treatment,  and  is 
now  able  to  work  a  little,  although  the  income  still  has  to  be 
supplemented.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  in  this  home  the 
attitude  toward  the  open  air  school  is  distinctly  one  of  co- 
operation. 

From  the  good  American  homes  which  are  also  represented 
in  the  open  air  schools,  come  hearty  expressions  of  gratitude 
for  the  improvement  in  their  children.  ''As  I  told  you  a  few 
days  ago,"  runs  one  letter,  "I  do  very  much  appreciate  the 
work  the  open  air  school  is  doing.  I  have  observed  it  closely 
for  over  a  year  and  more  so  this  term  since  my  son  has  been 
attending  it  and  it  has  done  so  much  for  him.  As  a  result  of 
severe  sickness  a  few  years  ago  he  had  been  very  nervous 
and  easily  excited.  He  used  to  come  home  from  school  under 
high  tension  and  often  irritable  and  did  not  do  as  good  work 

58 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


in  his  studies  as  he  was  capable  of  doing.  Since  attending  the 
open  air  school,  there  has  been  a  great  change.  He  comes 
home  from  school  calm  and  good-natured  and  is  doing  much 
better  work  in  his  studies.  He  has  been  gaining  in  weight 
every  week.  We  feel  that  the  open  air  school  is  doing  a  great 
deal  for  him  in  every  way  and  we  appreciate  it  very  much." 


For  we  have  — 

Cold  sprays  that  give  us 

Cheeks  like  the  rose, 

Temperatures  that  are  normal, 

This  our  record  shows, 

Appetites  so  hearty, 

Our  weight  grows  and  grows. 

We're  the  Elizabeth  McCormick 

Cold  air  Eskimos. 

That  goes. 


59 


THE  ROOF  OF  A  PUBLIC  BATH  PRESSED  INTO  SERVICE  AS  AN  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL 

60 


OPEN   AIR    SCHOOLS    FROM    THE   TEACHER'S 
STANDPOINT 


"It  is  in  the  forest  school,1'  says  Dr.  Henri 
Schoen,  writing  of  the  Chariot tenburg  school 
and  its  preceptress,  "that  one  may  best  see 
how  a  little  womanly  love  and  attention  succeed 
in  beautifying  and  transforming  the  lives  of 
children." 

It  is  a  pitiful  thing  to  see  a  sick  child  whom 
no  physician's  skill  can  cure,  but  it  is  a  far  more 
pitiful  thing  to  see  a  sick  child  doomed  to  linger 
through  a  fretful  childhood,  a  joyless  youth  and 
an  inefficient  manhood  when  the  right  care  at 
the  right  moment  might  have  made  him  a  nor- 
mal, healthy,  useful  human  being.  To  give  the  right  care  at 
the  right  moment  is  the  special  function  of  the  open  air  school. 
The  hopefulness  of  the  work  calls  forth  a  fine  spirit  of  social 
service  in  the  teacher. 

Sometimes  it  has  meant  real  self-sacrifice.  In  one  city, 
rather  than  have  the  open  air  school  discontinued  during  the 
summer  two  teachers  voluntarily  gave  their  vacations  to 
the  work  without  pay.  In  several  places  the  whole  labor  of 
preparing  and  serving  the  food  has  fallen  upon  the  teacher, 
who  has  cheerfully  given  up  her  noon  periods  and  many 
other  hours  legitimately  hers  with  no  other  recompense  than 
that  of  seeing  the  children  improve. 

Ordinarily,  however,  taking  charge  of  an  open  air  school 
means  increased  ease  rather  than  increased  difficulty  in 
accomplishing  desired  results.  The  largest  average  attendance 
in  any  open  air  school  from  which  reports  could  be  secured 

61 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


was  thirty-five,  with  most  schools  admitting  only  twenty-five 
and  some  only  fifteen.  The  average  number  of  pupils  to  one 
teacher  in  the  Chicago  public  schools  is  forty-one;  in  many 
small  town  schools,  it  runs  as  high  as  sixty. 

In  a  certain  small  town  in  Illinois  last  year,  ninety-three 
little  children  were  found  huddled  together  in  a  so-called 
"kindergarten,"  in  one  room  constructed  to  seat  sixty-five. 

The  handbook  of  the  Chicago  Child  Welfare  Exhibit  states 
that  in  the  New  York  City  public  schools  500,000  children 
are  in  classes  of  more  than  thirty  children;  and  15,000  in 
classes  of  more  than  sixty,  and  adds,  "A  class  of  thirty  is 
a  good-sized  class;  one  of  sixty  is  monstrous." 

The  superintendent  of  schools  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
is  quoted  in  a  recent  newspaper  article  as  saying  that  in 
one  building  visited  upon  his  arrival  in  Pittsburgh  he  was 
dumfounded  to  find,  in  one  instance,  one  teacher  with  136 
pupils. 

Granted  the  same  kind  of  teacher  and  the  same  kind  of  pupils, 
it  would  not  be  fair  to  expect  the  one  with  sixty  youngsters  to 
accomplish  as  much  with  each  -individual  child  as  could  the 
teacher  with  twenty-five  pupils.  On  the  other  hand,  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  sixty  would  be  in  one  or  two  grades 
while  the  twenty-five  might  range  from  first  to  the  eighth 
grade. 

Where  eight  grades  are  included  in  the  school,  the  work  has 
all  the  advantages  and  some  of  the  disadvantages  of  the  old- 
fashioned  district  school. 

The  necessity  for  adjustment  to  a  new  teacher  at  every 
promotion  is  eliminated.  Promotions  may  be  made  when  the 
pupil  is  ready  and  need  not  be  dependent  upon  any  fixed 
season  of  the  year.  Most  important  of  all,  the  child  has  a 
chance  to  learn  through  imitation.  Significant  in  this  respect 
is  the  story  of  Wyburn.  When  the  first  Elizabeth  McCormick 
Open  Air  School  was  started  on  the  roof  of  the  Mary  Crane 

62 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


Nursery,  Wyburn  was  a  mere  baby  of  four  who,  with  his  six- 
year  old  brother,  attended  the  day  nursery.     Both  boys  were 
pale  and    undersized,  with  a  family  history  of   tuberculosis. 
When  the  six-year-old  was  admitted  to  the  roof, 
school,  Wyburn  came  too.     As  the  teacher  says:» 
"  Wyburn  was  too  young  to  enter  school  but  he 
was  allowed  to  gather  whatever  crumbs  of  knowl- 
edge he  was  able   to  assimilate.     He  learned  to 
read  and  write  a  little  but  care  was  taken  not  to 
overtax  his  strength."     He  spent  all  his  afternoons 
asleep  on  the  roof.     Now,  at  six,  he  has  completed 
the  second  grade,  and  his  physical  condition  is  far 
better  than  when  he  entered.     He  has  learned 
without  effort  and  easily,  largely  from  hearing  the 
recitations  of  the  other  pupils.     He  has  not  been 
compelled  to  spend  a  third  of  his  time  in  review 
work,  nor  has  his  active  little  brain   been   befogged   by  bad 
air  or  exhausted  by  effort  too  prolonged. 

Another  advantage   which   comes  from   close  contact  with 
older  pupils  and  seeing  the  work  of  the  upper  grades  is  the 
desire  which   is  aroused   in   the  mind  of   the  pupil   to  com- 
plete a  full  school  course.     In  the  Chicago  schools, 
sixty-one  per  cent  of  the  fourteen-year-old  pupils 
drop  out  as  soon  as  they  have  reached  the  coveted 
"work  certificate  age."     Investigation  has  shown 
that  the  pressure  is  not  wholly  economic.    In  many, 
perhaps  the  majority,  of  these  cases  the  children 
might  remain  in  school  if  they  really  wanted  to. 

William  E.  Wirt,  superintendent  of  the  schools 
at  Gary,  Indiana,  recognizes  this  fact  when  he 
places  his  primary  room  next  to  the  eighth  grade 
and  his  fifth  grade  next  to  the  high  school. 
"Let  the  youngsters  see  something  interesting  just  ahead  of 
them.     Introduce  them  early  to  the  laboratory  and  work-shop 

63 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


which  they  may  enter  when  they  are  ready  —  arouse  their 
interest  and  their  desire  to  learn  and  you  will  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  holding  them  through  the  course/'  says  Mr.  Wirt. 

The  open  air  school  children  profit  by  the  opportunity  of  ab- 
sorbing from  the  upper  grades  much  of  the  information  which 
under  other  conditions  they  would  have  drilled  into  them.  The 
task  of  instruction  is  proportionately  easier  for  the  teacher,  and 
it  is  the  testimony  of  the  supervising  principal  that  the  quality 
of  the  work  done  in  the  ungraded  rooms  compares  very  favor- 
ably with  that  done  in  the  more  closely  graded  rooms. 

The  teacher  of  an  open  air  school  has  unusual  opportu- 
nities for  knowing  her  pupils.  She  is  not  swamped  at  the 
outset  by  large  numbers.  Twenty -five  individualities  can 
be  borne  in  mind  where  forty-five  would  leave  only  a  blurred 
impression. 

"Jensa  can  concentrate  for  ten  minutes,  and  no  longer," 
says  the  teacher  of  one  open  air  school  —  "  At  the  end  of  that 
time  her  attention  wavers.  Her  writing  grows  unsteady  and 
fatigue  begins.  But  if  she  can  have  a  few  moments  of  rest 
from  mental  work,  spent  either  in  relaxation  or  exercise,  she  is 
ready  to  take  up  her  studies  again  with  interest  and  effi- 
ciency." The  flexible  arrangements  of  the  open  air  school 
permit  this  rest,  which  might  be  demoralizing  to  discipline 
in  an  ordinary  school,  and  the  small  number  of  children  gives 
opportunity  for  close  observation. 

The  program  of  the  open  air  school  requires  the  teacher  to 
spend  more  time  with  her  pupils  outside  of  school  hours  than 
is  customary.  The  ordinary  teacher  never  sees  her  children 
loose  from  a  desk  or  a  "line"  unless  they  have  been  "bad." 
The  open  air  school  teacher  eats  at  the  same  table  with  her 
youngsters  three  times  a  day;  she  sees  them  laughing  under 
the  shower-bath,  and  learns  to  look  for  the  weekly  gain  in 
weight  as  eagerly  as  they;  she  watches  them  as  they  lie  asleep 
on  their  canvas  cots. 

64 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


Where  a  few  towns  fortunate  enough  to  have  medical  in- 
spection can  hope  for  perhaps  one  cursory  examination  of  each 
child  a  year,  and  the  teacher's  chief  source  of  information  is 
her  own  observation,  the  open  air  school  children  are  con- 
stantly under  the  care  of  a  physician  who  secures  treatment  for 
adenoids  and  bad  teeth  and  defective  vision  and  all  the  other 
minor  ailments  which  hinder  proper  development.  The  close 
relationship  between  body  and  mind  can  hardly  be  more 
clearly  demonstrated,  and  it  is  a  relationship  to  which  teachers, 
as  a  class,  need  to  give  special  attention.  With  the  actual 
physical  condition  of  each  child,  then,  the  teacher  cannot  help 
but  be  familiar.  The  nurse  keeps  her  equally  well  informed  on 
the  homes  from  which  the  pupils  come  —  Joe  ceases  to  be  a 
"  rather  stupid  little  boy  who 'sat  in  the  third  seat  from  the 
front  last  year  and  failed  to  pass,"  and  becomes  a  timid  under- 
fed lad  from  an  insanitary  rear  tenement  where  bad  air  and 
lack  of  sunshine  are  doing  their  best  to  choke  out  the  ambition 
which  brought  father  and  mother  to  America  to  make  a 
chance  for  the  children  and  by  the  time  various  agencies  have 
been  induced  to  lend  a  hand  in  re-establishing  this  ambition 
under  more  favorable  conditions,  the  relationship  between 
teacher  and  Joe  is  many  degrees  beyond  that  which  is  usual 
in  the  school-room. 

Says  Miss  Kate  Kellogg,  supervisor  of  the  open  air  schools, 
in  her  report  to  the  Chicago  board  of  education:  "When  a 
teacher  has  twenty-five  pupils  who  represent  anywhere  from 
two  to  seven  different  grades;  when  her  recitations  are  inter- 
rupted by  the  call  of  a  physician  or  nurse ;  when  entire  classes 
are  put  to  rest  for  the  day  at  the  menacing  demand  of  a  'rise 
in  temperature,'  she  is  obliged  to  meet  the  situation  with 
cleverness  and  calm.  How  is  she  enabled  to  do  this?  Not 
alone  because  she  is  breathing  the  purest  air  this  smoky  city 
can  bestow,  but  because  her  small  number  of  pupils,  her 
comprehensive  knowledge  of  their  physical,  mental  and  home 

65 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


conditions,  her  interest  in  their  all-around  development  have 
brought  her  into  a  close  human  relationship  with  them  not 
often  attainable  under  the  conditions  of  the  ordinary  school- 
room. She  is  their  intimate  friend  as  well  as  their  teacher." 

The  reflex  action  of  the  outdoor  life  on  the  teacher  can  best 
be  stated  by  those  who  have  experienced  it.     "  Those  who 


BRICK  MAKING  AT  THE  CHARLOTTENBURG  FOREST  SCHOOL 

have  tried  the  outdoor  work  have  been  capable  of  more  pro- 
longed labor  with  far  less  fatigue,"  says  the  teacher  of  the 
first  Boston  open  air  school.  "The  work  is  heavier  in  an 
open  air  class  but  I  feel  much  more  able  to  accomplish  it. 
After  the  day's  work  I  now  return  home  fresh  and  do  not 
suffer  from  the  usual  headache  and  dryness  of  throat  that 
follow  teaching  in  the  ordinary  room"  comes  from  New  York, 

66 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


while  an  Elizabeth  McCormick  open  air  school  teacher  testi- 
fies that  backache,  extreme  fatigue,  and  nervousness  have 
been  overcome  by  the  fresh  air  and  sunshine  on  the  roof. 

Any  teacher  who  has  known  the  experience  of  holding  down 
a  roomful  of  restless  children  on  a  rainy  day  will  be  interested 


THE  FAMOUS  WALDSCHULS  OF  CHARLOTTENBURG 

in  an  account  of  one  such  day  on  the  roof  when  the  superin- 
tendent of  schools  made  an  official  call.  A  cold  freezing  rain 
had  been  drizzling  for  twenty-four  hours,  the  roof  was  slippery, 
the  day  was  gray  and  dark  and  the  air  full  of  a  profound 
chill.  The  electric  lights  in  the  study  tent  had  been  turned  on. 
It  was  one  of  those  discouraging  days  when  it  is  difficult  not 
to  feel  blue  and  when  the  teacher  learns  to  anticipate  poor 
lessons,  listless  pupils,  and  an  uncomfortable  time.  The 
visitors  to  the  open  air  school  found  the  discouragement  of 

67 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


the  day  quite  routed  by  the  unaffected  good  spirits  of  the 
children.     They  heard  wide-awake  recitations,  saw  a  group 


, 


m 


AMERICA'S  OPPORTUNITY 

of  alert  and  attentive  children.  One  or  two  who  came  to 
scoff  remained  to  take  notes.  The  conference  which  fol- 
lowed set  the  stamp  of  official  approval  on  the  open  air 
school  idea. 

68 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


When  these  same  children,  a  little  later,  refused  to  take  a 
vacation  at  Christmas  time  and  came  back,  every  one  of  them, 
to  ask  that  school  be  continued  through  the  holiday  week,  ir 
was  only  typical  of  the  changed  attitude  toward  things  scholas- 
tic which  lessens  so  greatly  the  nervous  strain  on  the  teacher. 
Guiding  enthusiasm  is  much  less  strenuous  than  evoking  it. 

As  a  natural  result  of  improving  health  and  increasing 
desire  to  learn,  there  comes  a  great  improvement  in  scholarship. 
The  first  year  in  an  open  air  school  will  often  see  two  or  three 
grades  completed  where  before  progress  was  halting  or  had 
altogether  ceased.  The  children  accomplish  in  two  thirds  the 
regular  school  time,  as  much  or  more  as  do  their  fellows  in  the 
grades  from  which  they  came.  Home  studying  is  never 
permitted. 

The  attempt  which  was  made  during  1911-12  to  compare 
open  air  school  scholarship  with  the  previous  records  of  the 
same  children  in  the  closed  window  rooms  did  not  yield  as 
much  data  as  had  been  hoped  for  because  of  the  impossibility 
of  obtaining  records  for  many  children.  In  the  Chicago 
schools,  scholarship  is  not  marked  until  the  fifth  grade  and 
the  gradings  from  that  time  on  through  the  eighth  grade  are 
preserved  only  on  the  child's  report  card  or  in  the  teacher's 
class-book.  This  accounts  for  the  large  number  of  instances 
where  back  records  are  not  available.  Of  the  one  hundred 
and  ninety-five  children  for  whom  complete  records  could  be 
obtained,  sixty-seven  per  cent  gained  in  scholarship,  twenty- 
three  per  cent  remained  the  same,  and  seven  per  cent  lost. 
Of  the  twenty-three  per  cent  who  remained  the  same, —  had 
been  in  the  open  air  schools  during  the  one  to  two  years 
preceding  and  had  been  maintaining  an  average  of  over  ninety 
per  cent. 

In  attendance,  the  records  cover  two  hundred  and  four 
children;  63  per  cent  gained,  7  per  cent  remained  the  same,  and 
30  per  cent  lost.  In  connection  with  the  apparently  large 

69 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


number — nearly  one  third — whose  attendance  percentages  were 
less  than  those  of  the  previous  year, —  such  records  as  these, 
which,  of  course,  had  to  be  placed  among  the  losses,  are 
significant. 

1910-11  1911-12  1910-11  1911-12 

97  95  99  95 

97  90  100  99 
94             92            100             99 

98  95  99  93 
100             97            97  94 
100             97 

It  is  further  interesting  to  note  that  the  percentage  of 
attendance  for  1911-12  ran  94,  90,  96,  95  per  cent  for  the  open 
air  schools,  and  for  the  open  window  rooms  85,  90,  91,  88,  94, 
89,  86  per  cent.  The  largest  falling  off  in  attendance  came 
in  rooms  where  no  feeding  was  provided. 

The  provision  of  food  at  school,  the  bath,  the  toothbrush, 
and  the  medical  examinations  furnish  a  basis  for  the  study  of 
personal  hygiene  in  a  very  concrete  way.  It  is  much  easier 
to  demonstrate  the  value  of  a  daily  bath  when  you  have  before 
you  twenty -five  youngsters  who  have  barely  half  an  hour  ago 
emerged,  glowing,  from  a  cold  shower.  Oral  hygiene  acquires 
new  interest  when  individual  toothbrushes  are  the  property  of 
the  school.  To  record  the  daily  thermometer  and  hygrometer 
reading  may  be  made  part  of  the  school  program.  In  dozens  of 
different  ways  the  wide-awake  teacher  can  connect  the  school 
work  with  the  questions  of  diet,  sleeping  arrangements,  hour 
of  retiring,  proper  clothing,  and  wholesome  recreation  which 
so  vitally  affect  these  children  and  yet  do  it  in  such  a  way 
that  they  are  never  rendered  in  the  slightest  degree  self- 
conscious. 

The  frequent  visits  of  open  air  school  teachers  from  other 
cities  to  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  schools  led  to  correspond- 
ence between  the  pupils  in  Chicago  with  those  in  several  other 
towns.  English,  geography  and  hygiene  all  benefit  from  the 
ensuing  interest  in  the  letters. 

70 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


The  Open  Air  Smile  and  The  Open  Air  Courier,  the  only 
known  newspapers  published  on  a  roof,  reveal  the  trend  of 
thought  and  instruction  in  the  schools  by  such  items  as  these, 
taken  at  random : 

Votes  for  Women !  ! 

Three  pupils,  all  girls,  have  gained  over  ten  pounds  each  since  September 
29th.  (This  was  May  6th.) 

Sarah  G.  gained  n/4  pounds. 

Martha  R.  gained  13%  pounds. 

Ethel  P.  gained  14^4  pounds. 
Hurrah,  Votes  for  Women !     One  failed  to  gain  and  that  one  was  a  B  O  Y. 


Last  Wednesday  was  a  very  windy  day.  We  had  a  great  time  getting  in  bed 
and  getting  covered  up.  Mrs.  W.  read  to  us  before  we  came  up  stairs,  so  when 
we  lay  down  we  went  to  sleep  at  once.  Everybody  slept.  When  we  did  get 
up  the  wind  was  still  blowing  and  every  cot  was  covered  with  snow.  All  the 
children  were  surprised  and  said  "Oh"  and  we  were  just  as  warm  as  "toast." 
When  we  told  our  mothers  we  had  hard  work  to  make  them  believe  that  we  were 
sure  enough  asleep. 

Both  news-sheets  are  written  by  hand  and  appear  bi-weekly. 
The  infinite  pains  taken  to  make  the  penmanship  clear,  and  to 
keep  the  pages  free  from  blots  have  done  more  for  the  hand- 
writing of  the  young  compositors  than  months  of  copy-books, 
and  they  are  learning  composition  and  rhetoric  without  know- 
ing it. 

The  schools  have  not  been  in  operation  long  enough  to 
warrant  judgment  as  whether  the  children  discharged  are  per- 
manently cured.  We  know,  however,  that  some  of  them  have 
for  two  years  shown  no  evidence  of  a  relapse  into  their  former 
condition.  An  examination  of  former  pupils  from  the  Char- 
lottenburg  school  two  years  after  they  were  discharged  gave 
evidence  to  the  same  effect. 

However,  if  a  pupil  is  discharged  to  go  to  work  he  ought  to 
have  advice  and  assistance  in  securing  employment.  Last 
year  the  office  of  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Memorial  Fund 
was  notified  that  Marie,  a  promising  little  pupil  in  an  open 
window  room,  had  that  day  attained  her  fourteenth  birthday 
and  was  compelled  to  leave  school  and  go  to  work.  A  visit 

71 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


to  Marie's  home  disclosed  a  Belgian  family  neat  and  self- 
supporting,  but  pressed  by  poverty  almost  to  distraction. 
The  father  was  a  day  laborer  who  had  indulged  in  the  costly 
luxury  of  too  many  children  and  was  suffering  from  the  results. 
The  income,  however  wisely  spent,  was  plainly  inadequate. 
Marie  was  the  oldest  child,  was  a  very  attractive  little  girl,  not 
particularly  bright,  but  attentive  and  studious  and  eager  to 
stay  in  the  fresh  air  which  the  doctor  had  pronounced  her 
only  hope  of  health.  Yet  she  was  bravely  planning  to  go  to 
work  in  a  factory  because  there  was  the  only  opening  in  un- 
skilled labor  which  was  familiar  to  her.  Through  the  help 
of  the  United  Charities  a  chance  was  given  her  to  take  a  posi- 
tion at  the  Mary  Crane  Nursery,  where  she  has  been  for  the 
last  year  in  training  as  a  nursery  maid.  The  work  was  made 
especially  light  for  her.  She  shared  the  food  and  rest  periods 
of  the  open  air  school  children  on  the  roof  until  she  was 
strong  enough  to  do  without,  and  she  was  paid  $3.00  a  week 
while  learning  her  trade.  To-day  the  physician  pronounces 
her  absolutely  free  from  the  danger  of  tuberculosis  which 
threatened  her,  and  she  is  in  possession  of  a  training  in  the  care 
of  children  which  will  always  assure  her  of  steady  work  under 
pleasant  surroundings  with  pay  higher  than  she  could  hope  for 
in  any  factory.  There  is  also  the  possibility  that  later  she 
can  take  the  regular  nurse's  training  if  she  continues  to  enjoy 
the  work.  Marie  has  been  given  health  and  a  future.  That 
she  will  suffer  no  relapse  we  feel  reasonably  assured. 

We  do  know,  however,  that  those  who  are  forced  out  of  the 
open  window  rooms  by  promotion  to  higher  grades  for  which 
there  is  no  open  air  provision,  show  decided  falling  off  in  weight 
and  general  condition.  But  these  children  are  forced  out 
before  they  are  ready  to  go.  If  it  seems  impossible  to  the 
boards  of  education  to  have  an  ungraded  room  in  each  build- 
ing which  will  take  care  of  the  full  eight  grades,  there  should 
certainly  be  two  rooms  with  four  grades  in  each  so  that  a 

72 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


pupil  need  not  be  compelled  to  automatically  deprive  himself 
of  the  benefits  of  the  fresh  air  by  doing  so  well  in  his  studies 
that  he  has  to  be  promoted. 

The  fact  that  over  two  hundred  fresh  air  classes  have  been 
established  in  the  United  States  during  the  past  few  years 
shows  that  the  open  air  idea  is  advancing  in  favor  with  educa- 
tional authorities.  The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  Improve- 
ment in  health  means  improvement  in  ability  to  learn.  But 
it  means  more  than  this.  One  superintendent  on  his  way  back 
to  Pennsylvania  from  the  meeting  of  the  Department  of 
Superintendence  at  St.  Louis  in  1911,  said  that  to  him  the 
most  inspiring  part  of  the  whole  meeting  was  the  visit  to  the 
St.  Louis  open  air  school.  The  contagious  good  spirits  of  the 
children  and  the  good  fellowship  between  them  and  the  teacher 
he  considered  truly  remarkable. 

Sir  John  Gorst  remarks  the  same  thing  of  the  Forest 
School,  when  he  says:  "What  struck  me  most  was  the  air  of 
extraordinary  joyfulness  which  pervaded  the  whole  establish- 
ment from  the  medical  superintendent  down  to  the  smallest 
and  poorest  child,  and  I  marveled  at  the  administrative  ability 
which  had  at  so  small  cost  provided  such  a  great  portion  of 
health  and  happiness  to  brighten  at  least  the  beginning  of 
life  to  these  poor  children." 

The  chance  to  do  service  like  this  appeals  to  every  teacher. 


73 


OPEN  AIR  SCHOOLS  FROM  THE  PHYSICIAN'S 
STANDPOINT 


The  medical  staff  of  the  Elizabeth 
McCormick  Open  Air  Schools,  Dr.  James 
A.  Britton,  Dr.  O.  W.  McMichael,  Dr. 
George  B.  Young,  Mr.  Frank  E.  Wing, 
Dr.  W.  A.  Evans,  Dr.  John  A.  Robison, 
Dr.  Henry  B.  Favill,  Dr.  Theodore  B. 
Sachs,  Dr.  A.  C.  Kleutgen,  Dr.  B.  I. 
Wyatt,  Dr.  D.  B.  McEachern  and  Dr. 
H.  O.  Jones,  met  regularly  every  two 
weeks  during  the  school  year  for  dis- 
cussions and  reports  with  the  definite 
idea  of  establishing  certain  conclusions 
as  to  the  management  of  open  air 
schools.  After  careful  and  detailed 
consideration,  they  stood  agreed  upon 
the  following  points: 


NEED   OF   OPEN   AIR   SCHOOLS 

There  are  in  every  large  city  large  numbers  of  physically 
sub-normal  school  children.  Experiments  in  various  cities 
have  shown  that  a  large  percentage  of  such  children  are 
greatly  benefited  physically  and  mentally  when  placed  in  an 
open  air  school  or  an  open  window  room. 


75 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


DEFINITION   OF   TERMS 

The  open  air  school  is  in  reality  only  a  shelter  against 
inclement  weather,  so  constructed  that  the  air  is  actually  that 
of  the  outside. 

The  open  window  room  is  an  attempt  to  get  the  same  condi- 
tions as  are  possible  in  an  open  air  school  by  using  a  room  in  a 
regular  school  building  and  simply  keeping  the  windows  con- 
stantly open. 

CHILDREN  TO   BE  ADMITTED  — TO   BE   EXCLUDED 

No  child  shall  be  admitted  without  accurate  knowledge 
-of  his  physical  condition. 

The  open  air  school  should  be  reserved  for  the  tuberculous 
child,  the  open  window  room  for  other  types  of  physical  sub- 
normality. 

Children  with  severe  organic  disease,  viz.,  heart,  kidney, 
and  any  communicable  disease,  open  tuberculosis  included, 
should  be  excluded. 

Note 

Positive  diagnosis  of  open  tuberculosis  can  only  be  made 
by  rinding  bacillus  in  the  sputum  or  discharges,  but  persistent 
cough  with  expectoration,  persistent  fever  of  100  or  over,  moist 
rales  or  an  open  sinus  that  cannot  be  protected  entirely  by 
dressings  should  be  considered  sufficient  cause  for  exclusion. 

REQUIREMENTS   FOR  ADMISSION 

Child  must  bring  written  consent  of  parent  to  admission  to 
open  air  school,  also  written  consent  for  a  complete  physical 
examination,  same  to  be  conducted  by  physician,  always  in 
presence  of  nurse,  teacher,  or  parent. 

76 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


EXAMINATIONS  AND   MEDICAL   SUPERVISION 

Pupils  shall  be  given  complete  physical  examinations  by 
physicians  on  admission  and  discharge  and  at  other  times  for 
any  special  indication. 

Nurse  shall  inspect  daily,  recording  temperature,  pulse 
and  respiration.  Weight  shall  be  taken  once  a  week.  Child 
should  be  stripped. 

The  standard  physical  examination  shall  include  height, 
weight,  temperature,  pulse,  general  development  and  nutri- 
tion, condition  of  skin  and  glands,  condition  of  eyes,  ears, 
nose,  teeth  and  throat,  chest  formation,  condition  of  heart 
and  lungs.  (Children  shall  be  sufficiently  stripped  to  enable 
accurate  diagnosis.) 

ESSENTIALS   OF  TREATMENT 

Constant  free  circulation  of  outside  air. 

Children  and  teacher  must  be  kept  warm  and  comfortable. 
Sufficient  clothing  must  be  provided.  In  extreme  weather 
windows  may  have  to  be  closed,  but  room  should  be  flushed 
as  often  as  weather  will  permit. 

Rest  at  least  one  hour  in  middle  of  day.  Visitors  shall  be 
excluded  during  rest  period.  Any  child  running  a  tempera- 
ture of  100  or  over  shall  be  put  on  rest. 

Sufficient  food,  supplemented  at  home  or  at  school. 

Reduction  of  academic  work  done  in  special  cases. 

TEACHER 

Since  the  work  of  the  open  air  school  teachers  is  of  great 
importance  to  the  child  and  the  educational  system,  the 
salary  should  be  made  that  of  a  teacher  in  a  sub-normal 
room,  which  would  carry  with  it  increased  rather  than 
decreased  pay. 

77 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


SCHEDULE  OF   STUDIES 

No  home  studying  should  be  permitted.  There  should  be 
reduction  of  academic  work  in  some  cases.  The  school  work 
required  of  children  should  tend  more  and  more  to  be  governed 
by  the  advice  of  physicians  who  are  making  such  work  a 
specialty. 

Conditions  vary  so  much  in  the  different  schools  that  it  is 
impossible  at  present  to  draw  up  an  absolute  schedule  to  work 
towards  a  standardization  of  the  work. 

RECORDS 

There  should  be  a  card  especially  designed  for  recording 
physical  condition  and  progress. 

A  special  card  for  obtaining  the  consent  of  parent  to  ad- 
mission to  open  air  and  for  complete  physical  examination 
shall  be  issued  by  the  department  of  health  of  Chicago.  This 
shall  be  kept  on  file  with  the  other  physical  records  of  the 
child. 

On  other  points  of  medical  management,  the  arrangements 
differed  at  the  various  schools.  At  three  of  the  open  air 
schools,  a  cold  shower  bath  was  given  each  child  daily,  followed 
by  a  brisk  rub  with  a  turkish  towel.  At  the  fourth  roof 
school,  the  Graham,  there  were  no  facilities  for  bathing.  None" 
of  the  open  window  room  children  received  shower  baths,  but 
where  the  school  building  permitted,  they  were  given  warm, 
cleansing  baths  once  a  week. 

It  was  impossible  to  reach  an  agreement  as  to  whether 
the  value  of  the  daily  shower  bath  at  school  offset  the  extra 
expense  and  the  time  which  is  involved.  On  motion  of  the 
staff,  it  was  decided  to  consult  Dr.  S.  Baruch  of  New  York 
City,  on  this  question.  His  letter  in  reply  contained  so 

78 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


many  valuable  suggestions  that,  with  his  permission,  portions 
of  it  are  here  reproduced: 

"It  gives  me  pleasure  to  be  of  service  to  your  excellent 
society  and  to  say  that  your  idea  of  the  best  bath  for  school 
children  is  entirely  in  accord  with  my  own.  Your  method 
combines  the  refreshing  effect  of  the  cool  or  cold  water  upon 
the  nervous  system  with  the  cleansing  action  of  the  warm 
bath.  In  a  lecture  before  the  Teachers  College  of  Columbia 
University  last  year,  the  former  was  emphasized  because  it  is 
usually  neglected.  Cleanliness  of  the  person  is  necessary  for 
physiological  and  aesthetic  reasons,  but  the  godliness  it  fosters 
is  paramount.  This  may  seem  singular,  coming  from  one  who 
has  made  bathing  the  masses  a  life  mission,  but  I  agree  with 
School  Superintendent  Maxwell  who  says:  'Baths  before 
books,'  which  is  quite  heretic.  In  my  lectures  the  truth  of 
the  dictum  was  demonstrated  by  examples  from  ancient  and 
modern  history,  that  the  spiritual  effect  of  the  bath  is  superior 
to  its  physical  action. 

"It  would  not  seem  difficult  for  the  average  school  having  a 
steam-heating  plant  and  a  fair  water  pressure  to  supply  baths 
for  all  pupils.  Twenty- two  years  ago  I  devised  a  wholesale 
rain  bath  of  the  warm  and  cold  water  for  the  New  York 
Juvenile  Asylum,  of  which  I  was  physician,  which  economizes 
time,  trouble  and  money.  For  refreshing  effect  the  cold 
bath  should  be  brief  and  have  good  pressure,  not  less  than 
fifteen  pounds,  the  more,  the  greater  the  stimulating  action. 
The  duration  should  be  as  brief  as  you  have  it,  but  may  be 
advantageously  prolonged  a  minute  or  less  every  day,  but 
stopped  short  of  producing  chilliness.  The  longer  the  cool 
rain  bath  the  more  enduring  its  effect  in  producing  refresh- 
ment and  alertness  of  mind. 

u  This  rain  bath  is  also  the  most  useful  for  cleansing  purposes 
because  the  warm  water  and  the  soap  are  aided  by  the  friction 
of  the  water  under  pressure  and  there  is  no  danger  of  contagion 

79 


THE  MONTHLY  EXAMINATION  BY  THE  PHYSICIAN  IN  CHARGE 


TEMPERATURE  AND  PULSE  WERE  RECORDED  TWICE  DAILY 

80 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


and  no  loss  of  time  in  cleansing  large  numbers.  The  friction 
also  neutralizes  any  possible  relaxing  effect  of  the  warm 
water." 

The  experience  in  the  Chicago  schools  has  been  that  while 
the  children,  as  a  usual  thing,  object  to  the  bath  at  first,  in  a 
very  few  days  they  learn  to  like  it  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
object  to  going  without  it.  Although  the  order  was  given  at 
the  opening  of  the  first  school  in  1909  to  discontinue  baths  for 
any  child  who  did  not  react  properly,  no  such  child  has  yet 
appeared. 

The  length  of  the  rest  period  and  its  position  in  the  daily 
schedule  had  also  to  be  adapted  to  the  conditions  in  the  various 
schools.  In  one  roof  school,  the  twenty-five  pupils  rested  at 
the  same  time  in  the  afternoon,  with  the  teacher  in  charge. 
In  the  two  adjacent  schools  at  the  Mary  Crane  Nursery  and 
the  Hull  House  Boys'  Club,  each  school  was  divided  into 
sections,  one  section  resting  while  the  other  recited  and  then 
reversing  the  process.  The  delegations  from  the  two  schools, 
about  twenty-five  in  all,  rested  under  the  same  shelter  tent, 
in  charge  of  the  nurse.  At  the  Franklin  open  window  rooms 
there  were  two  rest  periods,  one  before  and  one  after  the  noon 
recess,  with  all  the  room  resting  at  the  same  time  and  the 
teacher  in  charge.  At  the  other  schools,  where  there  were 
several  grades  in  one  room,  the  matron  usually  had  charge  of 
two  rest  periods  and  rest  and  recitation  went  on  alternately. 

Such  a  period  of  quiet  relaxation  in  the  fresh  air,  away  from 
the  noise  of  the  street,  proved  of  great  value  to  the  overstrung 
nerves  of  these  city  children  who  came  for  the  most  part  from 
crowded  homes  where  only  one  fifth  of  them  slept  alone.  A 
vivid  picture  of  the  conditions  under  which  some  of  the  little 
pupils  had  to  rest  at  home  is  found  in  a  nurse's  record :  "Family 
living  in  three  rear  rooms  on  second  floor.  There  is  a  sus- 
pender factory  on  the  first  floor  and  a  carpenter  shop  on  the 
third.  The  small  yard  is  littered  with  paper  and  shavings. 

81 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


Toilets  are  in  small  sheds  in  yard.  Bed-room,  n  by  14  feet, 
contains  two  beds,  five  occupants.  Sam  sleeps  with  older 
brother.  Room  has  no  outside  window.  The  only  light  and 
air  come  from  sky-light  about  i>^by  7  feet,  which  the  brothers 
say  they  have  to  keep  closed  to  keep  out  the  bad  air  and  the 
noise.  Upstairs  in  the  front,  the  family  have  ten  children 
and  several  boarders,  and  in  the  rear  there  are  nine  children. 
On  the  first  floor  in  the  front  there  are  fourteen  children  and 
the  factory  is  in  the  rear.  The  yard  and  halls  are  full  of 
rats.  Sam  has  a  good  appetite  but  not  much  to  eat.  For 
breakfast  he  has  dry  bread  and  coffee,  and  coffee  and  soup 
with  bread  for  supper.  He  goes  to  bed  at  eight  and  gets  up 
at  six." 

At  Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  School  Number  3,  where 
especial  attention  was  paid  to  the  duration  of  actual  sleep, 
the  period  ran  from  two  to  eighty-one  minutes,  with  the 
average  about  forty-five  minutes.  A  child  lying  quietly,  with 
eyes  closed,  was  assumed  to  be  asleep.  Mothers  reported  that 
far  from  being  more  restless  and  wideawake  at  night,  the 
children  slept  better  and  were  more  ready  to  go  to  bed  at  eight, 
the  hour  which  the  school  physician  set  as  bed-time.  Per- 
sistent staying  out  late  at  night  was  considered  cause  for 
dismissal  from  school. 

Local  conditions  made  it  impossible  to  weigh  the  children 
stripped  in  more  than  three  roof  schools. 

The  medical  examinations  which  each  pupil  had  to  take 
before  admission  to  the  open  air  disclosed  many  physical  ail- 
ments which  had  undoubtedly  contributed  their  share  to 
putting  the  children  into  the  class  of  suspected  tuberculosis. 
In  one  school  the  children  had  an  average  of  five  decayed 
teeth,  and  all  had  to  go  to  the  dental  chair  for  extractions  and 
filling.  In  the  same  school  of  twenty-five  pupils,  twelve  had 
adenoids  and  tonsils  removed. 

The  room  which  served  for  the  dentists  was  also  used  for 

82 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


a  nose  and  throat  clinic  one  day  a  week.  Seventy-five  opera- 
tions have  been  performed  during  the  eighteen  months  of  the 
clinic.  In  May,  1911,  a  dental  clinic  was  opened  at  the 
school.  From  May  to  June,  1911,  30  children  received  treat- 
ment, and  from  September,  1911,  to  June,  1912,  over  300 
children.  The  attendance  was  most  generously  and  efficiently 
supplied  by  the  North  Side  Branch  of  the  Chicago  Dental 
Society. 

Under  this  medical  regime  ninety  per  cent  of  the  open  air 
pupils  showed  positive  improvement.  Of  these  fifteen  per  cent 
were  sufficiently  improved  to  be  discharged  to  the  regular 
school.  The  others  remain  in  the  open  air,  under  observa- 
tion. Of  the  eight  per  cent  who  did  not  show  improvement, 
two  per  cent  were  so  seriously  ill  as  to  be  admitted  to  sanitaria. 
In  a  few  cases,  where  the  mother  refused  proper  co-operation 
at  home,  the  child  was  dismissed,  and  in  one  or  two  others  he 
dropped  out  of  his  own  accord  before  he  showed  any  real 
gains. 

To  the  work  of  physicians  and  nurses  who  gave  many  hours 
of  over- time  service  freely  to  the  children,  the  open  air  schools 
of  Chicago  and  every  other  city  owe  a  big  debt  of  gratitude. 


EXPERIMENTS    IN    FEEDING 


According  to  the  estimate  of 
John    Spar  go,    fully    2,000,000 
children    of    school    age   in   the 
United  States  are  badly  under- 
fed.    The  mere  statement 
of  the  possibility  that  there 
might  be  in  this  coun- 
try  so  large  a  number 
of  hungry  boys  and 
girls    aroused     great 
interest   and  various 

schemes  were  at  once  proposed  to  supply  them  with  food. 
For  twenty  years,  England  has  been  wrestling  with  the  same 
problem,  but  the  arguments  for  and  against  feeding  at  school, 
provided  by  the  State,  are  still  contested  as  bitterly  as  ever. 
This  controversy  also  involves  the  food  question  in  the 
open  air  schools.  In  Germany,  children  whose  parents  can 
afford  it  are  charged  a  nominal  sum  for  their  attendance  at 
the  open  air  school.  Each  father  must  fill  out  a  card  which 
gives  his  trade,  income,  number  in  family  and  other  facts  which 
affect  his  ability  to  pay  for  his  child's  schooling.  Upon  this 
and  other  information  gathered  in  doubtful  cases,  is  based  the 
decision.  For  those  who  are  considered  really  unable  to  pay, 
the  municipality  provides.  Similar  provisions  are  made  in 
England.  In  the  United  States,  boards  of  education,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  will  furnish  the  school  books,  desks, 
black-boards  and  other  school  equipment,  and  will  hire  a 
teacher  at  the  regular  rate.  In  some  cities,  the  board  has  also 

85 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


provided  the  open  air  equipment,  but  so  far  no  school  board 
in  America  has  provided  free  food  for  school  children.  The 
.  result  has  been  that  almost  everywhere  some  private  agency 
has  undertaken  to  provide  food  for  the  open  air  pupils. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  open  air 
school,  it  was  decided  to  charge  those  children,  whose  parents 
were  able  to  pay,  ten  cents  a  day  to  cover  the  cost  of  food. 
A  very  short  trial,  however,  demonstrated  the  fact  that  the 
rigid  enforcement  of  such  a  rule  would  eliminate  from  the 
schools  the  very  children  who  most  needed  the  care.  If  the 
parents  who  were  able  to  pay  for  the  child's  food  were  unwilling 
to  do  so,  there  was  no  means  of  compelling  payment,  since  the 
open  air  schools  were  part  of  the  regular  public  school  system 
and  the  parents  could  easily  have  the  child  transferred.  To  the 
majority  of  families  represented  in  the  Elizabeth  McCormick 
schools,  even  ten  cents  a  day  was  absolutely  prohibitive. 
Most  of  them  were  already  receiving  assistance  from  the 
charitable  agencies  of  the  city. 

But  open  air  schools  with  feeding  ought  not  to  be  limited 
to  the  poorer  sections  of  the  community.  A  recent  develop- 
ment in  Chicago  suggests  one  way  of  extending  the  work. 
Through  the  efforts  of  the  principal  an  open  window  room  is 
about  to  be  started  in  the  Armstrong  school.  The  parents 
of  twenty  children  who  attend  that  school  have  offered  to 
pay  all  expenses  of  food,  extra  equipment  and  medical  super- 
vision for  the  room.  The  teacher  and  school  equipment  will 
be  provided  by  the  board  of  education. 

The  question  of  feeding  has  in  some  places  doubtless  pre- 
vented or  delayed  the  introduction  of  open  air  schools.  Food 
is  the  largest  single  item  of  expense.  It  ought  to  be  appetiz- 
ingly  prepared  and  daintily  served  if  it  is  to  accomplish  the 
maximum  amount  of  good.  Service  costs  money  and  requires 
room.  While  the  initial  expense  of  equipment,  once  incurred, 
is  over,  the  expense  of  food  is  constant  and  is  increasing  as  food 

86 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


values  rise.  Furthermore,  some  parents  object  to  having 
their  children  fed  at  school. 

It  is  the  aim  of  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Fund,  in  its  open 
air  work,  to  develop  the  schools  to  that  point  of  simple  effi- 
ciency where  the  board  of  education,  or  some  other  public 
agency,  may  fairly  be  asked  to  take  over  the  whole  responsi- 
bility of  operation.  If  this  one  question  of  feeding  coul  be 
solved,  matters  would  be  greatly  simplified.  Moreover,  since 
the  beginning  of  the  movement  people  have  questioned  whether 
it  was  really  the  fresh  air  or  the  food  which  caused  the  improve- 
ment so  quickly  evident  in  the  children. 

During  1911-12,  two  experiments,  one  in  New  York  and 
one  in  Chicago,  have  been  carried  on  to  get  evidence  on  this 
point. 

In  New  York,  the  Committee  on  the  Prevention  of  Tuber- 
culosis of  the  Charity  Organization  Society  provides  food  for 
eight  fresh  air  classes. 

1.  The  committee  furnishes  a  hot  lunch  at  noon  and  in 
addition,    milk    and    crackers    both   morning   and   afternoon. 
Two  such  classes. 

2.  Lunch  only,  but  no  milk,  morning  or  afternoon.      Two 
such  classes. 

3.  Milk  only,  both  morning  and  afternoon,   the  children 
being  allowed  to  bring  their  lunch  or  go  home  after  it.     Two 
such  classes. 

4.  No  feeding  at  all  in  the  class,  the  children  being  allowed 
to  bring  their  lunch  or  go  home  for  it.     Only  one  such  class. 

5.  The  Committee  is  also  feeding  the  children  in  a  regular 
class  of  normal  children  in  normal  condition  at  one  of  the 
schools,   in  order  to  make  a  comparative   test  with  a  class 
fed  in  a  similar  manner  but  taught  in  the  fresh  air  class  room. 
Only  one  such  class. 

The  results  of  this  experiment  will  probably  be  available 
by  the  time  this  book  is  published.  Copies  of  the  report  may 

8? 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


be  secured  by  addressing  the  Committee  on  the  Prevention  of 
Tuberculosis  of  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  105  E.  226. 
Street,  New  York  City. 

"It  is  estimated,"  says  the  bulletin  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Study  and  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis,  from 
which  the  above  description  was  also  taken,  "that  where  the 
full  lunch  and  also  milk,  both  morning  and  afternoon,  are  pro- 
vided, it  costs  17  cents  per  day  per  child;  for  lunch  only,  about 
10  cents  per  day  per  child;  and  milk  only,  twice  a  day,  about 
5  cents  a  day  per  child." 

The  Elizabeth  McCormick  Memorial  Fund  planned  the 
feeding  for  the  various  schools  under  its  charge  as  follows : 

Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  Schools  I  and  2.  Lunch  of 
milk  or  cocoa,  bread  and  butter  or  bread  and  jelly,  twice  a 
day;  soup  and  bread,  with  an  occasional  dessert,  at  noon. 
Average  attendance,  50.*  Average  days  present,  no.  Cost 
of  food  per  day  per  child,  n  cents.  In  School  No.  i  the 
record  covers  31  children;  30  children  gained  an  average  of  4.31 
pounds,  i  child  remained  the  same,  none  lost.  In  School  No. 
2  the  record  covers  28  children;  24  children  gained  an  average 
of  5.225  pounds,  4  lost  an  average  of  1.81  pounds. 

These  two  schools  were  on  adjoining  roofs  connected  by  a 
bridge.  The  children  shared  the  same  dining-room,  bathroom 
and  locker-room.  There  were  three  attendants:  the  matron, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  give  baths,  to  see  that  the  children  were 
properly  clothed,  to  plan  the  meals,  and  to  carry  out  the 
physician's  instructions  as  to  the  physical  care  of  the  children; 
the  assistant  matron,  who  attended  to  the  washing  and  clean- 
ing and  helped  the  matron ;  and  a  young  girl  who  assisted  with 
the  preparation  and  serving  of  the  meals.  The  soup  for  dinner 

*  The  apparent  discrepancy  between  the  average  attendance,  50,  and  the 
number  of  children  covered  by  the  record,  59,  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
the  record  included  all  children  who  had  been  in  attendance  longer  than  one 
school  month.  Some  were  promoted  in  January  and  others  took  their  places, 
etc.  The  same  explanation  applies  to  all  the  other  schools. 

88 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


was  bought  at  cost  from  the  Mary  Crane  Nursery.  The 
attending  physician  examined  all  applicants  for  admission, 
planned  the  daily  routine,  and  visited  the  school  daily  to  in- 
spect the  pupils.  The  Elizabeth  McCormick  Memorial  Fund 
paid  the  salaries  for  physician,  matron,  assistant,  and  girl. 
The  daily  per  capita  cost  for  this  service  was  21  cents. 

Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  School  No.  3.  Lunch  of 
milk  or  cocoa,  bread  and  butter  or  bread  and  jelly  twice  daily. 
Course  dinner,  of  meat,  vegetable  and  dessert  at  noon. 
Average  attendance,  25.  Average  days  present,  165.  Cost 
of  food  per  day,  14  cents.  Record  covers  25  children;  22 
children  gained  an  average  of  8.6  pounds,  i  remained  the 
same,  2  lost;  I,  who  was  discharged  to  a  sanitarium,  10.5 
pounds,  and  another,  2.75  pounds. 

This  school  was  on  the  roof  of  a  municipal  bath  building. 
The  shower  baths  on  the  first  floor,  a  five-room  flat  on  the 
second  floor  and  the  roof  were  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the 
foundation  by  the  board  of  health.  There  were  three  attend- 
ants; matron,  assistant  matron,  and  cook.  All  the  food 
was  prepared  at  the.  school.  The  salaries  of  attending  physi- 
cian, matron,  assistant  matron,  and  cook,  whose  duties  were 
like  those  at  Schools  I  and  2,  as  well  as  a  slight  additional  fee 
for  janitor  service,  were  paid  by  the  Elizabeth  McCormick 
Memorial  Fund.  Per  capita  cost,  daily,  for  service,  30  cents. 

Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  School  No.  4.  Lunch  of 
soup  or  stew,  milk  or  cocoa,  bread,  etc.,  twice  daily.  Average 
attendance,  30.  Average  days  present,  97.  Cost  of  food  per 
child  per  day,  5.5  cents.  Record  covers  29  children;  26  gained 
an  average  of  3.875  pounds,  3  lost  an  average  of  4.2  pounds. 

School  No.  4  was  on  the  roof  of  the  boiler  house  of  the 
Graham  Public  School.  The  matron  prepared  and  served 
two  lunches  for  children  of  open  air  and  open  window  rooms, 
saw  that  the  children  were  properly  clothed,  and  took  charge 
of  the  rest  period.  Her  assistant  helped  in  the  preparation  of 

89 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


the  lunches  and  the  general  care  of  the  lunch  room.  The 
school  physician  was  in  attendance.  No  baths  were  given. 
The  Elizabeth  McCormick  Fund  paid  the  salaries  of  matron 
and  assistant,  but  did  not  pay  the  physician  who  was  furnished 
by  the  board  of  health  and  the  value  of  whose  services  are  not 
included  in  this  computation.  The  same  statement  holds 
true  of  all  the  open  window  rooms  except  the  Franklin.  Daily 
per  capita  cost  of  service,  5  cents. 

Graham  Open  Window  Room.  Same  lunches  as  Graham 
Open  Air  School,  twice  daily.  Average  attendance,  30. 
Average  days  present,  127.  Daily  per  capita  cost  of  food,  5 
cents.  Record  covers  32  children;  30  gained  an  average  of 
2.62  pounds,  I  remained  the  same,  I  lost  l/^  pound. 

The  service  for  this  room  and  for  the  open  air  school  at  the 
Graham  was  taken  care  of  by  the  two  attendants  whose  duties 
were  described  under  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air 
School  Number  4.  The  school  physician  was  in  attendance. 
The  Elizabeth  McCormick  Fund  paid  the  salaries  of  matron 
and  assistant.  Daily  per  capita  cost  for  service,  5  cents. 

Moseley  Open  Window  Room.  Two  lunches  daily,  same 
as  above.  Average  attendance,  30.  Average  days  present, 
87.  Cost  of  food  per  child  per  day,  6  cents.  Record  covers 
42  children;  34  gained  an  average  of  3.78  pounds,  3  remained 
the  same,  5  lost  an  average  of  1.25  pounds. 

At  the  Moseley  School,  one  matron  was  able  to  prepare  and 
serve  the  lunches,  clear  up  afterward,  and  watch  the  rest 
period.  The  school  physician  was  in  attendance.  The 
Elizabeth  McCormick  Fund  paid  the  matron's  salary.  Daily 
per  capita  cost  for  service,  5  cents. 

Hamline  Open  Window  Room.  Two  lunches  daily, 
same  as  above.  Average  attendance,  25.  Average  days 
present,  96.  Cost  of  food,  5.5  cents.  Record  covers  38 
children;  35  gained  an  average  of  3.85  pounds,  2  remained  the 
same,  i  lost  2  pounds. 

90 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


Here,  one  matron  prepared  and  served  lunches,  kept  lunch 
room  in  order  and  took  charge  of  rest  period.  The  school 
physician  was  in  attendance.  The  Elizabeth  McCormick 
Fund  paid  the  matron's  salary.  Daily  per  capita  cost  for 
service,  4  cents. 

Franklin  Open  Window  Rooms  i  and  2.  Two  lunches 
daily,  same  as  above.  Average  attendance,  50  children. 
Average  days  present,  126.  Per  capita  cost  of  food,  6  cents. 
In  Room  No.  I,  record  covers  30  children;  28  gained  an  average 
of  5.9  pounds,  i  remained  the  same,  i  lost  2.93  pounds.  In 
Room  No.  2  the  record  covers  30  children;  28  gained  an 
average  of  4.75  pounds,  2  lost  an  average  of  1.75  pounds. 

The  matron  here  planned  and  served  the  lunches,  visited 
the  homes  of  the  pupils,  took  the  temperatures  in  the  afternoon. 
Her  assistant  helped  in  preparing  and  serving  the  meals.  The 
attending  physician  was  employed  by  the  Elizabeth  McCor- 
mick Fund.  He  examined  all  applicants  for  admission  to  the 
rooms,  planned  medical  routine,  and  inspected  daily.  The 
salaries  of  matron,  assistant,  and  physician  were  paid  by  the 
McCormick  foundation.  Daily  per  capita  cost  of  service, 
10  cents. 

Franklin  Open  Window  Room  Number  3.  Test  room. 
Open  windows,  rest  on  cot,  medical  and  nursing  attendance,  but 
no  food.  Average  days  present,  44.  Record  covers  20  chil- 
dren; 5  gained  an  average  of  1.6  pounds,  15  lost  an  average  of 
2.5  pounds. 

Here  the  only  cost  was  for  the  medical  and  nursing  care. 
The  same  physician  and  matron  who  had  charge  of  the  other 
rooms  at  the  Franklin  served  here.  The  Elizabeth  McCor- 
mick Fund  paid  both  salaries.  The  daily  per  capita  cost  for 
service  was  7  cents. 

Foster  Open  Window  Room.  Here  no  feeding  was  pro- 
vided by  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Fund,  since  a  penny  lunch 
room  was  in  operation  in  the  school  and  it  was  planned  to  see 

91 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


whether  this  form  of  feeding  would  meet  the  need.  But  the 
principal  of  the  school  was  fortunate  enough  to  be  offered 
milk  for  the  two  lunches  daily,  free  of  charge.  The  children, 
therefore,  received  the  unheated  milk  and  crackers  twice  and 
could  go  to  the  penny  lunch  room  at  noon  if  they  desired. 
There  was  no  cost,  either  for  food  or  service.  Record  covers 
33  children.  Average  days  present,  47.  16  gained  an  average 
of  1.6  pounds,  i  remained  the  same,  16  lost  an  average  of  2.2 
pounds. 

This  year  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Memorial  Fund  is 
paying  for  the  medical  service  in  all  the  open  air  and  open 
window  rooms.  We  have  also  put  the  Foster  School,  where 
the  feeding  was  through  the  penny  lunch  and  the  Franklin 
open  window  room,  where  no  feeding  at  all  was  provided,  on 
the  same  basis  as  the  other  open  window  rooms  with  two 
lunches  daily. 

At  one  school,  the  pupils  are  weighed,  stripped,  every 
Friday  afternoon  and  every  Monday  morning.  Noticing  the 
regular  loss  of  weight  over  the  week-end  vacation,  which  ran 
from  a  few  ounces  to  one  or  two  pounds,  the  physician  in  charge 
started  a  system  of  records  of  home-feeding,  to  be  kept  by 
the  children  themselves,  as  part  of  their  home  work.  These 
reports  were  frequently  verified  by  the  nurse  on  her  visit  to 
the  home.  Reports  evidently  incorrect  were  thrown  out, 
and  sources  of  error  avoided  as  far  as  possible.  The  records 
throw  light  on  home  conditions  which  are  responsible  for 
the  lack  of  efficiency  which  many  children  show  in  school. 

Says  the  report  of  the  Tuberculosis  Institute  on  the  summer 
schools:  "It  is  the  almost  universal  experience  of  the  visiting 
nurse  that  the  children  from  the  type  of  home  represented  in 
the  outdoor  school  as  conducted  in  Chicago  are  fed  on  a 
limited  diet  of  bread,  potatoes,  fried  meats  and  cheap  deli- 
catessen products.  Certain  nationalities  have  a  leaning 
toward  fried  fish,  macaroni,  canned  tomatoes  and  hard 

92 


fellii 


OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL  AT  KENOSHA,  WISCONSIN 


INTERIOR  OF  THE  KENOSHA  SCHOOL  —  THE  EQUIPMENT  OF  THIS  SCHOOL 
WAS  PRESENTED  TO  KENOSHA  BY  THE  WISCONSIN  ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS 
ASSOCIATION  AS  A  PRIZE  FOR  SELLING  THE  LARGEST  NUMBER  OF  RED  CROSS 
CHRISTMAS  SEALS. 

93 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


boiled  eggs,  but  almost  invariably  they  refuse  cooked  cereals, 
especially  rice,  vegetables  other  than  those  mentioned,  soup, 
unless  of  the  coarsest  variety,  and  numerous  dishes  common 
in  the  average  American  home.  Classes  in  domestic  science 
and  food  values,  as  well  as  in  deep  breathing  and  air  values, 
would  do  much  to  help  this  state  of  affairs,  for  malnutrition 
is  frequently  the  forerunner  of  tuberculosis  in  children." 

Edward  C.  is  one  of  the  five  small  children  for  whom  Mrs.  C. 
has  done  her  best  to  provide  since  her  husband's  death.  He  was 
in  the  open  window  room  less  than  one  month,  in  which  time  he 
gained  3^  pounds.  His  records  of  his  breakfasts  at  home  follow : 

May  28,  Coffee,  bread,  butter.  June    7,  Tea,  bread. 

29,  Coffee.  10,  Tea,  bread. 

'      31,  Tea,  bread,  cake.  n,  Tea,  bread. 

June    3,  Tea,  cake.  13,  Coffee. 

4,  Tea,  bread.  14,  Coffee,  tea. 

'        5,  Tea,  bread.  17,  Tea,  bread,  cake 

6,  Tea,  bread.  19,  Tea. 

On  June  I3th,  he  records  with  evident  pride: 

DINNER  —  9  slices  sandwiches  2  peases  cake 

i  ice  cream  cone  5  banannas; 

and  since  Clyde  M.,  from  the  same  school,  records  for  the 
same  day: 

DINNER  —  3  sandwiches  ice-cream  cone 

2>2  bananas  pop  corn, 

cracker  jack 

it  is  evident  that  a  small  orgy  took  place. 

Edward's  diagnosis  on  admission  reads:  "Malnutrition." 
One  little  colored  girl,  who  reports  almost  invariably  no 
dinner  at  noon,  is  found  on  further  investigation  to  be  eating 
very  hearty  breakfasts,  eggs,  toast,  corn-flakes,  etc.,  usually 
meat  at  night,  and  soup  and  milk  at  school.  Here,  apparently, 
the  lunches  at  school  did  away  with  the  necessity  of  going 
home  at  noon. 

Another  child  came  29  mornings  out  of  143  with  no  break- 
fast, although  the  record  of  the  other  home  meals  showed  a 
plentiful  supply  of  good  food  available. 

94 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


Molly  F.,  an  eight-year-old  Russian  Jewess,  was  diagnosed 
as  anaemic  and  nervous.  Although  she  was  in  the  open  window 
room  121  days,  her  weight  was  the  same  on  discharge  as  on 
admission,  56  pounds.  Her  percentage  of  scholarship  this 
year  was  80,  her  percentage  of  attendance  67.  Molly's  father 
kept  a  little  shop  down  on  South  State  Street,  and  the  family 
of  seven  occupied  three  beds  in  one  chamber  of  the  four-room 
apartment.  Her  breakfast  record  from  February  to  June 
follows : 


February    I, 


2, 
5, 

6, 
7, 
8, 
9, 

11, 

14, 

15, 

1  6, 

19, 

23, 

24, 

26, 

27, 

28, 

29, 

2, 

5, 

6, 

7, 

8, 

9, 

1  1  , 

12, 

13, 

14, 

1  8, 

19, 

20, 

21, 

22, 

25, 

26, 

27, 


March 


2  doughnuts,  I  glass  milk,      March 
i  slice  bread. 

3  cakes,  I  cup  tea.  April 
Ice-cream,     I     cup    tea, 

cakes. 

Tea,  4  cakes,  cream 
Doughnuts,  tea. 
3  cakes,  2  cups  milk. 
Sausage,  I  cake,  2  glasses 

milk. 

2  glasses  milk,  3  cakes 
Cake,  milk. 
Cake,  milk. 
Doughnuts,  milk,  fish. 
Pie,  milk,  apples. 
Apples,  tea,  2  cakes  May 

Tea,  meat,  bread,  apples. 
Apples,  cake,  milk. 
Bread,  fish,  milk,  cake. 
Cake,  milk. 
Cake,  milk,  fish. 

2  cakes,  cocoa. 

1  cake,  fish,  tea. 

3  cakes,  tea. 
Cakes,  2  glasses  milk 
Tea. 

Tea,  cake. 
Cake,  hot  milk. 

2  cakes,  I  glass  milk. 
2  cakes,  i  glass  milk. 
2  cakes,  i  glass  milk. 

Cake,  milk.  June 

Cake,  milk. 

2  doughnuts,  i  glass  milk. 

1  cake,  2  glasses  milk. 

i  cake. 

1  cake,  i  cup  tea. 
None. 

2  doughnuts,  i  plate  sal- 
mon, i  cup  cocoa. 

95 


28,  Cake,  sardines,  cocoa. 

29,  2  cakes,  i  cup  tea. 

4,  2  macaroons,  i  cup  tea. 

10,  2  eggs,  i  cup  tea. 

1 1 ,  i  cake,  i  cup  tea. 

12,  2  cakes. 
15,  None. 

17,  i  cake,  I  cup  tea. 

1 8,  Milk,  fish. 

19,  i  cake. 

22,  i  cake,  i  cup  tea. 

23,  i  cake. 

24,  i  cake. 

25,  Pie,  tea. 

26,  2  cakes. 

6,  i  cake,  milk. 

7,  2  fishes,  i  cake. 

8,  i  cake,  milk. 

9,  i  cake,  milk. 
10,  i  cake,  coffee. 

13,  I  glass  milk. 

14,  i  cake. 

15,  i  cake,  i  cup  coffee. 

1 6,  i  cake,  tea. 

17,  i  cake. 

20,  None. 

21,  i  cake. 

24,  i  cake,  i  glass  milk. 

25,  2  cakes,  tea. 

28,  i  cake,  2  glasses  milk. 

29,  None. 

3,  None. 

4,  i  cake. 

5,  i  cake. 

6,  None. 

7,  i  cake,  I  glass  milk. 

10,  None. 

11,  2  cakes,  i  cup  tea. 
13,  i  cake,  i  cup  tea. 
17,  i  cake,  i  cup  tea. 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


On  the  basis  of  similar  records  for  five  months,  one  physician 
estimates  the  average  number  of  calories  taken  at  home 
by  the  children  in  his  section  of  the  city,  which  includes  "Little 
Italy,"  as  about  450  calories.  The  menus  at  the  open  air 
school  are  planned  to  give  them  in  addition  about  1,500 
calories.  The  caloric  values  are  worked  out  daily  by  the 
matron  in  charge.  Sample  menus  follow: 

MENUS   FOR   SEPTEMBER,    1911 


September  5 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (TOMATOES) 

BROWNED  BEEF          PLAIN  POTATOES 

TOMATOES  (STEWED) 

FARINA  PUDDING 

September  6 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (BARLEY) 

BEEF  LOAF  BAKED  POTATOES 

BEETS 

PRUNES 

September  7 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP 

LAMB  STEW  BAKED  POTATOES 

STRING  BEANS  RADISHES 

CHOCOLATE  PUDDING 

September  8 — 

CREAMED  LIMA  BEAN  SOUP 

EGGS         SCALLOPED  POTATOES 

CREAMED  ONIONS 

PEACHES 

September  n — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (RICE) 

BEEF  STEW        BAKED  POTATOES 

PEAS  WITH  CARROTS 

CONCORD  GRAPES 

September  12 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (PEAS) 
CHOPPED  BEEF  PLAIN  POTATOES 

LETTUCE 
TAPIOCA  PUDDING 

September  13 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (BARLEY) 

SPARE  RIBS      MASHED  POTATOES 

SAUER  KRAUT 

RADISHES 
RICE  PUDDING 

September  14 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP 
ROUND  STEAK  BAKED  POTATOES 

SLICED  TOMATOES 

FARINA  PUDDING 

September  15 — 

POTATO  SOUP  (CREAMED) 

EGG  SCALLOPED  POTATOES 

BEETS         GRAPES 


September  18 — • 

VEGETABLE  SOUP 
BROWNED  BEEF   BAKED  POTATOES 

WAX  BEANS 
CHOCOLATE  PUDDING 

September  19 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (TOMATOES) 

BEEF  LOAF        BAKED  POTATOES 

CAULIFLOWER 

GRAPES 

September  20 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (RICE) 

LAMB  STEW  PLAIN  POTATOES 

PEAS  AND  CARROTS 

PRUNES 

September  21 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (BARLEY) 
CHOPPED  BEEF  PLAIN  POTATOES 

PARSNIPS 
RICE  PUDDING 

September  22 — 

TOMATO  SOUP  (CREAMED) 

FRIED  POTATOES 

SPAGHETTI   (WITH  TOMATO  SAUCE) 
FARINA  PUDDING 

September  25 — • 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (TOMATO) 
BROWNED  BEEF      BAKED  POTATO 

CORN 
CHOCOLATE  PUDDING 

September  26 — 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (RICE) 

SALT  PORK        BAKED  POTATOES 

BEETS 

PRUNES 

September  27 — - 

VEGETABLE  SOUP  (BARLEY) 

BEEF  LOAF          PLAIN  POTATOES 

PEAS  AND  CARROTS 

GRAPES 

September  28— 

IRISH  STEW 
RICE  PUDDING 

September  2Q — 

TOMATO  SOUP  (CREAMED) 

SPAGHETTI 

PRUNES 


96 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


The  lunch  hours  and  noon  meal  ought  to  be  periods  of 
complete  relaxation,  with  the  atmosphere  of  the  school  room 
entirely  absent.  Many  of  the  children  come  from  homes  where 
the  family  never  all  sit  down  together  for  a  well-ordered  meal. 
They  have  grown  up  in  the  habit  of  snatching  a  baker's  roll 
from  the  kitchen  table,  pouring  a  cup  of  strong  coffee  from 
the  perpetually  brewing  coffee  pot  and  eating  their  breakfast 
on  the  doorstep.  To  bring  children  handicapped  by  such 
lack  of  training  into  contact  with  those  whose  mothers  have 
taught  them  carefully,  even  if  under  the  limitations  of  poverty, 
is  to  give  the  untaught  a  big  chance  to  profit  by  what  they  see. 

Dr.  Kraft,  in  his  excellent  report  on  the  Charlottenburg 
Waldschule,  comments  on  the  training  which  the  children 
give  each  other.  Under  the  skillful  guidance  of  a  wise  teacher, 
the  imitative  instinct  can  be  made  to  work  all  for  the  good. 
There  is  little  likelihood  of  a  boy  deliberately  copying  bad 
table  manners  when  the  general  attitude  of  his  mates  is  so 
decidedly  against  it.  But  the  emphasis  on  table  etiquette 
must  never  destroy  the  freedom  of  the  meal.  A  simple  form 
of  grace,  jokes  and  stories,  pleasant,  unsupervised  conversa- 
tion, songs  about  the  piano  afterward,  are  not  hard  to  have, 
and  they  give  the  pupil  a  more  natural  chance  for  self-expres- 
sion than  he  can  get  during  the  school  period. 

All  children  like  "to  help,"  and  in  rotation  different  groups 
of  them  set  the  table,  serve  and  clear  away  the  things.  They 
are  taught  the  proper  position  of  knife  and  fork.  They  learn 
to  use  napkins.  Tooth  brushes  are  given  them  and  the 
regular  tooth  brush  drill  after  dinner  together  with  the  in- 
sistence upon  clean  faces  and  hands  at  a  table  where  it  is 
fashionable  to  be  clean  combine  to  make  the  food  more  enjoy- 
able. 

The  effect  upon  the  children  is  shown  by  the  often  quoted 
remark  of  a  boy  in  the  summer  school:  "Good  eats  an'  rest 
make  a  feller  feel  good  and  he  ain't  a-goin'  to  do  bad  things." 

97 


THE    DEVELOPMENT    OF    OPEN   AIR    SCHOOL 
WORK  IN   CHICAGO 


Chicago  was  the  sixth  city  in  the  United 
States  and  the  first  in  the  west  to  establish 
open  air  schools  for  physically  subnormal 
children.  Germany  led  the  way  in  1904 
with  the  now  famous  Waldschule  at  Char- 
lottenburg.  England  and  France  followed 
at  Bos  tall  Wood  and  Lyons.  In  this  coun- 
try, Providence,  New  York  City,  Boston, 
Pittsburgh  and  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
had  conducted  schools  in  the  open  for  periods 
ranging  from  three  to  eighteen  months.  An 
old  school  house,  an  unused  ferry-boat,  the 
roof  of  a  park  refectory,  a  canvas  tent,  a 
hospital  balcony  and  an  old  dwelling-house, 
respectively,  were  the  expedients  pressed 
into  service  as  a  sort  of  manger  makeshift 
for  this  new  enterprise. 

In  Chicago,  as  elsewhere  in  this  country,  private  philan- 
thropy financed  the  initial  experiments.  The  first  outdoor 
school  was  made  possible  through  the  joint  co-operation  of 
the  board  of  education  and  the  Chicago  Tuberculosis  Institute. 
The  part  taken  by  the  Board  of  Education  was  largely  the 
result  of  the  active  interest  of  Dr.  Alfred  Kohn,  who,  prior  to 
the  arrangement  with  the  Tuberculosis  Institute,  had  pre- 
sented to  the  board  of  education  a  plan  for  a  similar  school 
for  debilitated  children,  not  necessarily  tuberculous,  to  be 
modeled  somewhat  after  the  Chariot tenburg  school.  Pro- 

99 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


vision  for  feeding  of  these  children,  however,  proved  a  stum- 
bling block,  and  it  became  necessary  to  give  up  the  school  as 
originally  planned.  Prior  to  the  announcement  of  these 
plans,  the  Chicago  Tuberculosis  Institute,  which  had  advocated 
an  outdoor  school  as  one  of  its  possible  summer  activities,  was 
in  the  field  for  a  location  for  some  form  of  outdoor  provision 
for  a  group  of  tuberculous  children. 

The  plan  of  Dr.  Kohn  seemed  to  present  the  desired  op- 
portunity, and  the  Tuberculosis  Institute  offered  to  co-operate 
with  the  board  of  education  in  the  maintenance  of  such  a 
school.  The  offer  was  accepted  and  the  school  was  opened 
on  the  grounds  of  the  Harvard  School,  Seventy-fifth  Street 
and  Vincennes  Road,  on  Tuesday  morning,  August  3,  1909. 

The  school  building,  grounds,  equipment  and  teaching 
staff  were  furnished  by  the  school  board,  while  the  selection 
of  the  children,  the  expense  of  food,  transportation,  cook, 
nurse  and  medical  service  were  assumed  by  the  Tuberculosis 
Institute.  A  large  shelter  tent  and  thirty  reclining  chairs 
were  secured  for  outdoor  use;  and  range,  cooking  utensils, 
dishes,  knives,  forks  and  spoons,  kitchen  and  dining  tables 
and  ice-box  were  installed  in  the  basement  of  the  school 
building.  The  large  assembly  hall,  piano,  toilets  and  shower 
baths  were  also  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  pupils.  Mr.  Wil- 
liam E.  Watt,  principal  of  the  Graham  school,  was  secured 
as  principal  of  the  outdoor  school.  He  was  assisted  by  two 
teachers,  also  supplied  by  the  board  of  education. 

The  Tuberculosis  Institute  placed  one  of  its  nurses  on 
half-time  attendance  at  the  school  to  watch  the  temperatures, 
weight,  pulse  and  general  condition  of  the  pupils.  Careful 
follow-up  work  into  the  homes  of  the  children  made  it  possible 
to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  parents  to  the  fullest  degree. 

Of  the  thirty  children  chosen  for  the  experiment,  seventeen 
were  first-stage  cases  of  tuberculosis,  two  had  tubercular 
glands,  and  eleven  were  pronounced  pre-tubercular.  Sixteen 

IOO 


OPEN    AIR    CRUS  ADDERS 


had  been  and  two  were  still  directly  exposed  to  tuberculosis 
in  their  homes.  In  the  case  of  the  other  fourteen  there  was 
no  evidence  of  direct  exposure.  None  had  passed  to  the 
"open"  or  infectious  stage.  All  such  cases  were  excluded, 
but  two- thirds  of  the  group  on  admission  showed  a  tempera- 
ture ranging  from  99  to  100.2. 

On  discharge,  only  two  showed  a  temperature  above  99, 
while  the  rest  were  practically  normal.  The  total  gain  in 
weight  for  the  thirty  children  was  113  pounds,  ranging  from 
one  to  seven  pounds,  while  the  average  gain  was  3.8  pounds. 

Less  than  thirty  days  of  intelligent  care  and  feeding,  of 
exercise  and  rest  in  the  open  air,  had  transformed  these  chil- 
dren who  came  limp,  pallid,  physically  blighted,  without 
enough  energy  in  the  body  to  light  the  mind,  into  approximate- 
ly normal  pupils,  alert,  attentive  and  able  to  keep  up  sustained 
interest  in  their  school  work.  It  was  a  remarkable  demon- 
stration, too  valuable,  people  felt,  to  be  discontinued. 

The  roof  of  the  Mary  Crane  Nursery,  with  its  tent  equip- 
ment, offered  the  best  available  site  in  Chicago.  The  first 
year-round  open  air  school  in  the  city  was  opened  in  October, 
1909.  It  was  maintained  through  a  contribution  from  the 
Elizabeth  McCormick  Memorial  Fund  and  was  carried  on 
by  the  United  Charities,  the  Board  of  Education  and  the 
Tuberculosis  Institute.  Closely  following  this,  the  Public 
School  Extension  Committee  of  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club, 
under  the  chairmanship  of  Mrs.  A.  W.  Bryant,  co-operated 
with  the  school  board  in  establishing  two  classes  for  anaemic 
children  in  open  window  rooms,  one  in  the  Moseley  and  one 
in  the  Hamline  Schools.  Here  the  regular  regime  was  broken 
by  a  rest  period  and  lunches  of  bread  and  milk  were  served 
twice  each  day. 

The  school  board  had  also  arranged  for  fresh  air  rooms  in 
the  Graham  School.  Mr.  Watt,  the  principal,  enthusiastic 
over  the  success  of  the  summer  school,  argued  that  fresh  air 

101 


'*    R    CRUSADERS 


would  also  be  good  for  normal  children.  The  Elizabeth 
McCormick  open  air  school  aimed  to  meet  the  needs  of 
children  who  showed  signs  of  tubercular  infection.  They 
came  from  tuberculosis  clinics,  visiting  nurses,  settlements, 
charity  workers,  public  and  private,  from  every  agency  that 
dealt  with  physically  backward  children.  The  enrollment, 
at  first  limited  to  twenty-five,  was  increased  to  thirty-five, 
because  the  pressure  for  admission  was  so  great.  Four  girls 
too  old  for  school  work  were  given  light  work  in  the  nursery 
and  shared  in  the  benefits  of  the  especially  prepared  food  and 
the  rest  period  of  the  pupils.  Still,  many  more  were  turned 
away.  In  all,  fifty-four  made  application  for  admission  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  idea  was  new  to  Chicago,  and  many 
people  prophesied  that  the  school  could  not  and  would  not 
with  safety  to  the  pupils  be  held  on  the  roof  during  the  winter. 

To  prevent  the  fulfilment  of  so  dismal  a  prophesy,  the 
children  were  protected  against  the  cold  by  picturesque 
Eskimo  suits  made  of  heavy  blankets  which  they  slipped  on 
over  their  ordinary  clothing.  The  peaked  caps  were  sewed 
firmly  to  the  jackets  and  could  be  thrown  back  if  desired. 
Both  boys  and  girls  wore,  tucked  into  lumbermen's  boots, 
loose-fitting  blanket  trousers  which  combined  warmth  with 
the  utmost  freedom  of  movement.  Thick  gloves,  extra 
blankets,  and  soaps  tones  for  use  on  extremely  cold  days  com- 
pleted the  outfit,  the  expense  of  which  was  borne  entirely  by 
the  Elizabeth  McCormick  fund.  All  these  garments  were  the 
property  of  the  school  and  each  child  was  held  responsible  for 
nightly  putting  his  own  suit  into  his  own  locker.  For  the  teacher 
a  fur-lined  coat  and  a  fur  cap  were  provided.  In  addition  to 
the  clothing  for  school  wear,  in  some  cases  it  was  found  neces- 
sary to  provide  underclothing,  rubbers  and  overcoats  which 
remained  the  property  of  the  individual  children. 

The  day  nursery  on  the  roof  of  which  the  school  was  held 
presented  peculiar  advantages  as  a  laboratory  for  carrying  on 

102 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


such  an  experiment.  The  equipment  of  the  building,  which 
included  shower-bath  and  dispensary  on  the  first  floor,  dining 
room  and  kitchen  on  the  third  floor,  store-room  and  tent  on 
the  roof,  toilet  rooms  on  the  first  floor  and  roof,  and  elevator 
service  was  given  freely  to  the  use  of  the  school  children. 

The  roof,  illustrated  on  the  following  page,  is  completely 
inclosed  by  a  high  framework  covered  by  wire  netting. 
Against  this  netting  young  evergreen  trees  replaced  during 
the  winter  the  vines  which  covered  the  meshes  in  the  summer 
months.  The  trees  not  only  served  the  extremely  practical 
purpose  of  a  good  windbreak,  but  lent  a  perpetual  air  of  Christ- 
mas festivity  to  the  place  which  was  reflected  in  the  joyous 
faces  and  merry  spirits  of  the  children. 

When  Christmas  Day  really  came,  the  little  trees  were 
literally  used  for  the  purpose  for  which  Nature  had  so  evidently 
created  them,  and  stood  about  the  roof  bedecked  with  the 
simple  gifts  which  the  children  had  made  for  themselves  and 
for  the  teacher,  and  covered  with  the  glittering  crystals  of  the 
snow.  Germany  took  her  sick  children  to  the  pine  forests 
to  school;  Boston  put  her  little  patients  into  classrooms  on 
the  roof;  it  remained  for  Chicago  to  bring  the  trees  to  the 
children  and  give  her  pupils  a  forest  school  on  a  city  roof. 

Completely  encircling  the  tent  which  stood  among  the 
trees  were  windows  which  swung  out,  canopy  fashion,  making 
an  open  zone  clear  around  the  tent.  These  windows  could 
be  dropped  on  the  side  from  which  a  storm  might  come. 

The  teacher,  the  supervisor  of  the  school  work,  as  well  as 
the  desks,  blackboards,  and  all  equipment  were  provided  by 
the  Board  of  Education.  No  heat  whatever  was  furnished 
in  the  tent,  but  heated  soapstones  were  placed  at  the  feet  in 
extremely  cold  weather.  No  one  seemed  to  have  difficulty 
at  any  time  in  handling  pen  or  pencil  although  the  thermometer 
often  went  below  zero. 

Outside  of  the  inclosed  tent  was  a  large  shelter  tent  which 

103 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


consisted  simply  of  a  canvas  top,  without  sides,  to  protect 
from  rain  or  extreme  heat.  Here  the  children  took  their  daily 
naps,  tied  up  snugly  in  their  warm  sleeping  bags  and  stretched 
out  full-length  on  canvas  cots.  The  younger  children,  and 
those  who  were  least  well,  often  spent  the  entire  afternoon  in 


MARY  CRANE  NURSERY-  CHICAGO 

ROOF  PLAN 

POND  &  POND  -ARCHITECTS 


rest  and  no  one  was  urged  to  come  into  the  tent  to  school  if 
the  teacher  was  convinced  that  the  sleep  would  do  him  more 
good.  Though  the  physical  development  was  thus  appar- 
ently put  ahead  of  the  mental  growth,  a  glance  at  the  record 
of  advancement  made  by  the  pupils  shows  clearly  that  the 
mind  was  very  far  from  suffering  by  such  treatment. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  shelter  tent  stood  a  long  table  on 
which  the  hot  lunch  was  served  at  nine  and  three-thirty.  A 
small  store-room  on  the  roof  gave  space  for  the  dish  cupboard 

104 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


and  gas  stove  where  the  lunches  could  easily  be  prepared  by 
the  cook.  On  the  other  side  of  the  store-room  were  lockers 
for  wraps  and  supplies. 

Store-room,  toilet  and  asbestos  tent  were  already  on  the 
roof;  the  shelter  tent  was  the  only  addition  to  be  made  for  the 


BOTANY  AT  CAMP 

school.  The  Elizabeth  McCormick  Memorial  Fund,  which 
provided  for  the  expenses  of  conducting  the  school,  also  financed 
the  Infant  Welfare  Work  for  which  these  buildings  on  the  roof 
had  been  previously  erected. 

With    this    equipment    the    school    was    carried    on    from 
October  to  June.     In  June,  pupils  and  teacher  went  for  one 

105 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


month  to  Camp  Algonquin,  the  summer  camp  maintained  by 
the  United  Charities,  where  the  women  and  children  of  the 
poorer  districts  of  the  city  are  given  two-week  outings.  The 
beautiful  grounds  on  the  bank  of  the  Fox  River,  the  roomy 
cottages,  the  immaculate  cleanliness  of  dormitory  and  dining- 
hall,  the  joys  of  camp-fires,  baseball,  swimming  pool,  oaks 
and  brook  impressed  more  deeply  upon  the  minds  of  the  chil- 
dren the  high  standards  of  personal  conduct  and  pleasant 
home  life  which  it  had  been  one  special  aim  of  the  roof  school 
to  inculcate. 

The  changes  also  afforded  opportunity  to  regulate  absolutely 
all  the  conditions  affecting  the  pupils  in  a  way  quite  impossible 
in  the  city,  where  they  must  return  at  night  to  homes  which, 
in  spite  of  the  most  conscientious  efforts  of  the  visiting  nurses, 
sometimes  undid,  in  large  measure,  the  good  received  during 
the  day. 

There  were,  then,  during  the  school  year  1909-10,  three 
distinct  classes  of  children  cared  for  by  three  distinct  agencies : 
the  normal  pupils  in  the  lowered  temperature  rooms  at  the 
Graham  school;  the  anaemic  children,  with  rest  period  and  two 
lunches,  in  the  fresh  air  rooms  equipped  by  the  School  Ex- 
tension Committee  of  the  Woman's  Club;  and  the  tubercular 
boys  and  girls  in  the  fresh  air  tent  on  the  roof,  where  Eskimo 
suits,  sleeping  outfits,  three  meals  a  day  and  medical  and 
nursing  attendance  were  provided  by  the  Elizabeth  McCormick 
Memorial  Fund.  The  same  condition  existed  through  the 
following  year,  1910-11,  with  the  addition  of  one  open  air 
school  on  the  roof  of  a  municipal  bath  building,  given  rent 
free  by  the  board  of  health,  and  two  open  window  rooms  for 
anaemic  children  in  the  Franklin  School,  all  three  operated 
by  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Fund. 

So  much  general  interest  had  been  aroused  by  the  first 
Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  School,  and  so  many  inquiries 
poured  in  about  its  methods,  that  the  trustees  of  the  founda- 

106 


OPEN     ^SIT2 
SCHOOL     TSOOA 


F  ELIZABETH  MC  CORAAICK 

OPEN    AIR   SCHOOL  Al«  2 
POND  <5  PO/HD  ARCITECTS 


107 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


tion  decided  to  prepare  a  detailed  report  of  the  work  which 
should  be  available  for  free  distribution.  A  little  book  under 
the  title  of  "Open  Air  Crusaders"  was  the  result,  and  two  edi- 
tions of  five  thousand  each  were  practically  exhausted  within 
the  year.  This  was  based  on  the  one  school  and  covered  only 
its  first  full  year. 

In  1911,  the  board  of  education  requested  the  Elizabeth 
McCormick  Memorial  Fund  to  assume  the  responsibility  for 
all  the  open  air  school  work  carried  on  in  the  Chicago  public 
schools  and  to  attempt  to  standardize  the  methods  which 
should  be  employed  in  the  conduct  of  such  schools. 

The  medical  side  of  the  work  was  under  the  general  super- 
vision of  a  staff  composed  of  the  physicians  in  attendance  at 
the  several  schools,  the  Commissioner  of  Health,  and  others 
expert  in  tuberculosis  work. 

There  were  in  operation  eleven  schools,  four  distinctly  open 
air  schools  and  seven  open  window  rooms.  The  roof  of  the 
Hull  House  Boy's  Club  was  pressed  into  service  as  an  open 
air  school,  and  another  was  on  the  roof  of  the  engine  house 
at  the  Graham  School.  The  fourth  was  on  the  roof  of  the 
Cregier  bath.  All  of  the  open  window  rooms  were  in  school 
buildings. 

The  medical  attendance  at  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Open 
Air  Schools  One,  Two  and  Three,  and  for  the  open  window 
rooms  at  the  Franklin,  was  provided  by  the  foundation.  At 
the  Hamline,  Foster,  Moseley  and  Graham,  the  school  physi- 
cians provided  by  the  board  of  health  were  given  extra  time  in 
which  to  make  the  examinations  and  inspect  the  pupils.  The 
matrons  and  attendants,  food  and  equipment  at  all  the  schools 
were  provided  by  the  McCormick  foundation.  The  work  will 
be  continued  on  much  the  same  lines  during  1912-13. 

For  the  last  two  months  of  the  school  year,  a  statistician 
was  engaged  to  gather  all  the  available  facts  concerning  the 
children  in  attendance  at  the  open  air  and  open  window  rooms, 

1 08 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


particularly  such  as  concerned  their  previous  school  record. 
The  physical  gains  made  in  the  open  air  school  were  an  undis- 
puted fact,  borne  out  by  many  records,  but  it  was  especially 
desired  to  compare  the  attendance  and  scholarship  ~ef_  -each 
pupil  not  with  some  "normal  child, "  and  not  with  the  average 
of  his  fellows  in  the  public  schools,  but  with  his  own  past 
record.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  in  the  Chicago  schools  scholar- 
ship is  not  recorded  under  the  fourth  grade  and  attendance 
record  books  need  only  be  preserved  one  year,  the  past  records 
in  many  cases  proved  impossible  to  get.  It  was,  of  course, 
impossible,  except  in  the  case  of  really  sick  children,  to  com- 
pare the  physical  gains  made  this  year  with  those  of  previous 
years,  because  ordinarily,  until  the  child  entered  the  open  air, 
no  school  records  of  his  physical  progress  had  been  kept. 

The  facts  tabulated  were  taken  from  the  records  of  the 
nurses,  teachers,  and  doctors  who  had  charge  of  the  open  air 
work.  No  child  was  included  in  the  tabulation  who  had  been 
in  attendance  less  than  one  school  month.  The  inquiry 
covered  367  pupils.  Of  these,  277  are  still  in  the  open  air; 
55  have  been  returned  to  the  regular  school  room;  9  had  to 
be  sent  to  sanitaria  or  hospitals.  Of  these  remaining,  1 7  cannot 
be  traced;  4  have  gone  to  work,  and  5  have  moved  away. 

Ninety  per  cent  of  those  whose  present  condition  is  known 
show  decided  improvement  in  health,  spirit,  and  intellectual 
power. 


109 


no 


HOW  TO  EQUIP  AN  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOL 


r—  ,  Within  the  last 

f      *-***•        "  * 

j.  .  two  years  a  de- 

r^*«.    -*  — T~~""~  " 

1^  come  in  the  let- 

ters of  inquiry 
concerning  open 
air  schools.  Peo- 
ple who  used  to  write,  "What  do  you  think  of  open  air  schools?  " 
and  "Don't  the  children  catch  cold?"  are  now  asking,  "What 
kind  of  foot  covering  is  best?"  and  "How  many  feedings  a 
day  do  you  find  necessary?"  Reports  from  other  cities 
show  various  methods  of  adapting  local  conditions  to  the 
needs  of  the  open  air  and  visitors  bring  word  of  practical 
devices  for  increasing  comfort  or  lessening  expense.  The 
value  of  the  open  air  school  is  established,  but  the  best  methods 
of  operation  are  still  in  process  of  evolution. 

The  structure  of  the  building  which  is  to  be  used  for  open 
air  work  varies  with  the  locality.  A  most  encouraging  indica- 
tion of  the  awakening  interest  in  the  question  of  ventilation 
is  shown  by  the  number  of  architects  and  engineers  who  have 
written,  many  of  them  within  the  last  year,  for  copies  of 
the  last  edition  of  "Crusaders."  The  new  Eagle  School  of 
Cleveland,  with  its  entire  top  floor  designed  for  open  air  work, 
is  a  realization  in  stone  and  brick  of  the  new  idea.  Boston 
and  New  York  have  voted,  through  their  boards  of  education, 
that  each  new  school  building  erected  shall  have  a  specially 
designed  room  in  which  the  physically  sub-normal  child  may 
receive  open  air  treatment. 

in 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


The  adaptation  of  school  rooms  usually  means  simply  the 
installation  of  windows  which  are  made  to  open  more  widely 
than  the  ordinary  window,  either  by  swinging  out  on  a  cord, 
by  dropping  down  into  a  sash,  or  by  swinging  on  a  hinge,  like 
a  French  window.  In  some  instances  these  windows  open  on 
a  balcony  or  a  roof  where  the  children  may  rest  or  play  in 
favorable  weather.  The  whole  purpose  is  to  get  as  much  air 
and  sunshine  as  possible  into  the  room. 

Many  cities  have  erected  small,  separate  structures  either 
on  roofs  or  in  school  yards  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
twenty-five  children  who  are  the  average  unit  for  the  open  air 
school.  St.  Louis  went  into  the  outskirts  of  the  city  for  a  site 
and  put  up  a  frame  structure  with  kitchen,  toilet  facilities, 
school  room  and  veranda.  This  made  an  expensive  under- 
taking, but  the  results  have  already  justified  it.  The  school 
has  been  in  session  six  days  a  week,  with  no  pause  for  vaca- 
tions, since  the  day  of  its  opening  and  within  nine  months, 
fourteen  of  the  twenty-five  pupils  have  been  discharged  to  the 
ordinary  schools,  as  cured. 

Kenosha,  for  a  very  small  amount,  erected  a  shack  that 
served  admirably.  The  necessity  of  putting  in  plumbing  and 
gas  was  avoided  by  using  the  conveniences  of  a  near-by  school 
building. 

All  through  California,  little  one-story,  open  window 
buildings  are  springing  up.  Toilet  facilities  are  provided 
but  no  kitchen,  since  less  feeding  is  usual  in  the  milder  climate. 

In  Chicago,  a  tent,  either  of  wood  or  asbestos  board,  about 
14  by  17,  with  double  canvas  roof  and  windows  swinging 
open  all  around,  has  been  found  the  most  serviceable  for  the 
school  tent  on  the  roof.  In  two  of  the  four  tents  provided 
by  the  McCormick  foundation,  no  heat  at  all  is  furnished; 
in  one,  a  single  coil  of  steam-pipe  runs  up  from  the  flat  below; 
and  in  one,  which  is  located  directly  over  the  boiler  room  of 
a  public  school  building,  four  coils  of  steam-pipe  pass  around 

112 


HOOD 


AF     placed  on  fold  of  goods. 

FC     straight  edge  of  goods:  stitch  in  flat  seam. 

ABC  face  line,  folded  back  when  in  use. 

EDC  line  where  hood  is  attached  to  collar  of  suit. 

x         tapes  to  tie  hood  closely  about  the  face. 


IZ- 


c  L- 


DIRECTIONS    FOR    MAKING    THE    ESKIMO    SUITS. 

(By  Request.) 

The  Eskimo  suits  are  simply  double-breasted  pajamas  cut 
from  heavy  woolen  blankets.  The  suits  are  to  be  worn  over 
the  other  clothing,  so  large  sizes  are  used  and  the  legs  and 
sleeves  are  shortened  to  fit  the  individual.  To  the  collars  are 
fastened  hoods  with  tape  so  placed  as  to  tie  snugly  about  the 
face  in  severe  weather.  The  outfit  is  completed  by  a  pair  of 
heavy  felt  boots,  the  soles  covered  with  material  like  the  suit, 
with  a  thick  interlining  of  paper. 


INSIDE      SLEEPING     BAG        OUTSIDE 

MEAD 

80" -, 


FOOTPIECE 


—  O6 

X 

X 

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tf 

Z    x 

x 

y 

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..1 

r- 

' 

rooTPiECt 

1- 

X          X 

DIRECTIONS  FOR  MAKING  SLEEPING-BAG. 

(By  Request) 

Inside:   Shoddy  woolen  blanket  60  inches  by  80  inches. 

Footpiece:   1-6  of  blanket,  added  to  center  of  lower  line. 

Outside:  Dark  brown  canvas,  28  inches  wide,  cut  in  three 
strips,  64  inches,  64  inches  and  94  inches,  respectively,  and 
stitched  together  as  shown  in  cut. 

Edges  of  canvas  are  folded  back  to  cover  edges  of  blanket, 
leaving  i  inch  edge  of  double  canvas. 

Crosses  show  position  of  12 -inch  tapes. 

In  use,  flaps  are  folded  in  order  as  indicated. 


114 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


the  room,  just  above  the  wainscoting.  Although  the  children's 
feet  are  kept  warm  in  the  rooms  without  heat,  by  providing 
soaps  tones  and  boots,  it  is  done  with  much  less  difficulty  in 
the  rooms  where  the  floor  is  somewhat  warmed.  Fresh  air,  not 
cold  air,  is,  after  all,  the  end  to  be  reached.  In  all  four  schools 
the  meals  are  served  in  a  warm  room;  the  bath-rooms  are 
warmed,  of  course,  and  there  is  always  a  warm  place  close  at 
hand  to  which  a  child  may  go  if  chilled. 

The  school  equipment  of  desks,  book-case,  teacher's  desk, 
movable  black-board  and  the  various  small  articles  which  are 
needed  for  school  purposes  are  supplied  by  the  board  of 
education. 

The  individual  equipment  for  each  child  includes : 

Eskimo  suit  (Made  to  order) $4.00 

i  double  wool  blanket 6 . 50 

Canvas  folding  cot  (special,  28  x  66  in.) 2.50 

Sleeping  bag  (canvas,  lined  with  cheap  blanket)           2.00 

Felt  boots .90 

Mocha  kid  gloves,  fleece-lined .85 

Thermometer .25 

Tooth  brush .10 

Paper  napkins .10 

Record  sheets .10 

Towels i .  oo 

Laundry 1 . 50 

Miscellaneous  disinfectants  .  20 


Total $20.00 

On  entrance,  each  child  is  given  a  number,  which  appears 
on  every  article  of  his  individual  equipment  and  on  his  locker. 
The  excitement  of  fitting  suits,  boots  and  gloves  to  twenty- 
five  eager  children  cannot  be  gone  through  with  every  morn- 
ing. 

The  Eskimo  suits  are  made  in  the  sewing  room  of  the  Mary 
Crane  Day  Nursery,  from  the  patterns  illustrated  on  page  113. 
Since  they  are  worn  over  ordinary  clothing,  it  is  necessary 
to  order  at  least  a  two  years'  larger  size  for  each  child. 

115 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


After  trial  of  both,  we  have  found  the  suits  made  to 
order  better  than  the  ready-made  suits  which  may  now  be 
procured.  The  home-made  suits  are  more  ample  and 
more  securely  put  together,  and  therefore  wear  better  than 


GETTING  READY  FOR  THE  AFTERNOON  NAP 

the  factory-made.     When  a  child  leaves  the  school,  his  suit 
is  washed  and  disinfected  and  made  ready  for  his  successor. 

The  foot  covering  has  been  a  source  of  much  difficulty. 
The  problem  is  to  find  something  that  is  warm,  light  and 
durable.  Many  schools  have  padded  sitting-out  bags  into 
which  the  children  thrust  their  feet  while  in  school.  Others 
use  leggings  and  overshoes.  We  have  found  nothing  better 
than  the  lumberman's  felt  boot  with  the  soles  reinforced  by 
double  thicknesses  of  heavy  blanket.  These  boots  come  to 
the  knee  and  the  trousers  of  the  Eskimo  suits  are  tucked  into 
them.  They  give  much  more  freedom  of  movement  than  is 

116 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


possible  when  the  sitting-out  bags  are  used.  One  pair  of  boots, 
with  patching,  should  last  a  child  during  the  school  year,  for  of 
course  there  are  many  days  when  they  need  not  be  worn. 

Warm  gloves,  one  size  large,  sewed  to  a  tape  which  is 
fastened  to  the  back  of  the  collar,  under  the  Eskimo  hood, 
keep  the  hands  warm  and  permit  the  use  of  pen  or  pencil. 

The  sleeping-bags,  also  illustrated  on  page  114,  are  more 
cheaply  and  satisfactorily  made  than  bought.  The  heavy 
blanket-lined  canvas  is  not  too  heavy  to  go  to  the  laundry, 
and  like  all  the  blankets  used  during  the  rest  period,  it  can 
be  thoroughly  disinfected  before  a  change  in  ownership. 

A  very  short  trial  served  to  convince  us  that  cots  were 
much  better  for  the  rest  period  than  steamer  chairs.  In  the 
steamer  chair,  the  shoulders  are  hunched  together,  contracting 
the  chest  at  the  very  time  when  it  most  needs  expansion,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  relax  as  completely  as  on  the  cots.  The 
cots  for  the  Chicago  schools  are  made  to  order  by  a  Chicago 
manufacturer,  who  gives  us  a  specially  reinforced  light  weight 
folding  cot,  with  adjustable  head  piece,  for  $2.50.  A  child 
can  easily  fold  it  and  carry  it  to  the  locker  room. 

For  extremely  cold  weather,  hot  soapstones  prove  very 
comfortable  at  hands  and  feet.  They  are  awkward  things  to 
handle,  however,  and  until  the  soapstone  box  was  devised, 
blankets  were  occasionally  burned.  Now  each  child  trots 
cheerfully  along  to  school,  swinging  his  box  by  the  leather 
handle,  and  the  blankets  no  longer  suffer. 

A  fur-lined  coat  with  high  fur  collar,  an  electric  pad  for  the 
hands,  and  either  felt  boots  or  fleece-lined  shoes  make  the 
teacher  comfortable. 

If  baths  are  to  be  given,  the  ordinary  equipment  of  towels, 
soap,  rubber  caps  and  the  like  must  be  provided.  In  three 
Chicago  roof  schools  a  cold  shower  bath  is  given  every  child 
every  day.  Pocket  combs  and  nail  files  in  the  bath-room 
wrought  amazing  improvement  on  hands  and  heads. 

117 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


In  the  open  window  room,  where  the  temperature  is  sup- 
posed to  be  kept  about  fifty-five  degrees,  we  have  provided 
sweaters  and  stocking  caps  when  the  children  could  not  buy 
them  themselves.  The  location  of  the  room,  its  exposure  and  its 
relation  to  nearby  buildings  make  so  much  difference  in  the 
case  of  ventilation,  that  even  in  the  same  building  we  find 
wide  ranges  of  temperature  in  rooms  which  we  are  trying  to 
keep  the  same.  Experiments  in  such  rooms  have  disclosed 
pockets  in  which  the  air  is  not  circulating  properly  in  spite  of 
open  windows.  The  amount  of  clothing,  then,  varies  with 
the  room.  The  one  inflexible  rule  is  that  the  child  must  be 
comfortable.  The  work  ought  always  to  be  done  under  the 
direction  and  supervision  of  a  competent  physician  who  can 
devote  sufficient  time  to  insure  wise  arrangement. 


118 


ADDENDA 


SUMMARY  OF   RESULTS   IN   FOUR   OPEN   AIR 
SCHOOLS,   CHICAGO,    1911-12 


In  the  four  schools,  there  were  enrolled,  for  periods  of  over 
one  month,  127  children.  The  effort  was  made  to  compare 
the  record  made  by  these  children  in  the  open  air  schools 
with  the  previous  record  which  they  had  made  in  the  closed 
schools.  In  some  cases  it  was  found  impossible  to  trace  the 
back  record.  In  such  instances  the  number  of  children  for 
whom  the  record  was  incomplete  was  deducted  from  the  total 
and  the  basis  of  comparison  was  only  that  number  of  pupils 
whose  records  were  complete. 

In  attendance,  complete  records  were  secured  for  92  children.  Of  these, 
61,  or  66.3  per  cent,  gained;  10,  or  10.8  percent,  remained  the  same; 
21,  or  22.8  per  cent,  lost. 

Per  cent 
In  School  No.  3,  the  percentage  of  attendance  for  the  room  this  year  was     96.3 

Last  year,  for  the  same  room,  it  was 91 .6 

The  four  children  who  came  from  closed  rooms  brought  records  of  .  .  45 . 5 
In  School  No.  4,  the  percentage  of  attendance  for  the  room  this  year  was  95 . 9 
The  25  children  out  of  32  for  whom  last  year's  records  could  be  obtained, 

had  made  last  year,  in  a  closed  room 81.5 

The  largest  recorded  gain  in  attendance  was 67.0 

In  scholarship,  complete  records  were  secured  for  94  children.     Of  these, 
66,  or  70.2  per  cent,  gained;  25,  or  26.6  per  cent,  remained  the  same; 
3,  or  3.1  per  cent,  lost. 
In  School  No.  3,  the  percentage  of  scholarship  for  the  room  last  year  was     77 .9 

This  year  it  was 82 . 6 

In  School  No.  4,  the  percentage  of  scholarship  last  year  was     .      .      .      .     74.4 

(This  in  closed  room) 
The  percentage  of  scholarship  for  the  same  children  this  year  was       .      .     86 . 6 

In  weight,  the  records  cover  only  the  present  year  and  record  the  gains  made 
in  the  open  air  school  only.  Records  are  complete  for  113  children.  Of  these, 
104,  or  92  per  cent,  gained;  7,  or  6.1  per  cent,  lost;  2,  or  1.7  per  cent,  remained 
the  same. 


121 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


Comparison   of    results    in    six 
March,  1912. 


Chicago    schools    through 


SCHOLARSHIP 

OPEN  CLOSED 

CONCLUSIONS 

School  No.  i      ... 

.   81.5       81.7 

School  No.  2      .      .      . 

.    81.1       73.8 

Totaling    and    averaging, 

the 

Graham  Open  Air  . 

.   87.0       74.3 

open  air  leads  by  3  per  cent. 

Graham  Open  Window 

.80.8       80.  i 

Hamline        .... 

.    86.4       90.4 

Moseley        .... 

•    79-7       78.1 

ATTENDANCE 

OPEN  CLOSED 

CONCLUSIONS 

School  No.  i       ... 

.  97.2     100.0 

School  No.  2      ... 

.   89.0      96.9 

Totaling     and     averaging, 

the 

Graham  Open  Air  . 

.  90.0      41.4 

open  air  leads  by  6  per  cent. 

Graham  Open  Window 

.  90.4      89.7 

Hamline        .... 

.   88.8      95.7 

Moseley        .... 

.87.9       85.0 

DEPORTMENT 

OPEN  CLOSED 

CONCLUSIONS 

School  No.  i      ... 

.  95.0      91.9 

School  No.  2 

.  91.0      82.5 

Totaling    and    averaging, 

the 

Graham  Open  Air  . 

.   94.3       91.2 

open  air  leads  by  5  per  cent. 

Graham  Open  Window 

.90.8       80.  i 

Hamline        .... 

.   96.0      90.4 

Moseley        .... 

.   87.5       90.0 

Division  of   Child  Hygiene  —  Parent's  Consent  Card 

To  the  Parents  of 

Address 

Your  child  attending  the School 

shows  evidence  of  the  following  condition: 


In  the  interest  of  the   child's    welfare   kindly   give   permission   to   have  a 
thorough  examination  of  the  child  made  by  the  school  doctor. 

Parents  can  be  present  at  the  examination  if  they  desire. 

Please  sign  this   card  and  return  it  to  the  School. 

G.  B.  YOUNG, 

Commissioner  of  Health 

Parent's  Signature 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


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123 


A  STUDY  IN  JANUARY  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE 


Average  daily  temperature  in  Chicago  during  January,  1912,  11.9  degrees  above 

zero. 

Percentage  of  attendance  is  given  in  all  cases. 
Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  School  No.  I,  on  the  roof  of  the  Mary 

Crane  Nursery 93-6 

Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  School  No.  2,  on  the  roof  of  the   Hull 

House  Boys' Club 97.0 

Foster  School,  of  which  these  two  open  air  schools  are  a  part    .      .      .      .   92 . 8 
Elizabeth  McCormick  Open  Air  School  No.  3,  on  the  roof  of  the  Cregier 

Public  Bath 97 . 26 

Franklin  Open  Window  Room  No.  I 93-3 

Franklin  Open  Window  Room  No.  2 89 . 8 

Franklin  School,  of  which  the  open  air  school  and  the  open  window  rooms 

are  a  part 93 . 8 

Graham  Open  Air  School 91.3 

Graham  Open  Window  Room - 94 . 9 

Graham  School,  of  which  the  Open  Air  School  and  the  open  window  room  are 

a  part 88 . 4 

Hamline  Open  Window  Room 96.3 

Hamline  School 93-2 

Moseley  Open  Window  Room 86 .  o 

Moseley  School 87.4 

This  gives  a  total  percentage  for  the  open  air  and  open  window  rooms, 

taken  together,  of 93 . 3 

For  the  schools  of  which  they  are  a  part,  a  total  of         90 . 6 

For  the  entire  grammar  school  system  of  the  city 92.3 

Thus  the  open  air  pupils'  attendance  averaged  2^2  per  cent  higher  than  that 
of  their  former  classmates  in  the  ordinary  school  buildings,  and  I  per  cent  higher 
than  the  attendance  all  over  the  city. 


124 


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Elimination  in  our  City  School  Systems.     Charities  Publication  Committee 

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Board  of  Education,  City  of  Chicago.      58th  Annual  Report. 
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Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Public  Health  Section  of  the  National  Con- 
ference on  the  Prevention  of  Destitution.     P.  S.  King  &  Son,  Orchard  House, 

Westminster,  London,  1911.     238  pp.     Price  $i  .00  net. 
Report  of  Vocational  Training  in  Chicago  and  in  other  Cities.     By  a  Committee 

of  the  City  Club  of  Chicago.     The  City  Club,  315  Plymouth  Court,  Chicago, 

1912.     3i5pp.     Price  $1.50. 
Talbert,  Ernest  L.     Opportunities  in  School  and  Industry  for  Children  of  the 

Stockyards    District.      Published    by    the    University    of    Chicago    Press, 

64  pp.     Price  25  cents. 
Smith,  William  Hawley.     All  the  Children  of  all  the  People.     The   Macmillan 

Company,  New  York  City,  1912.  345  pp.     Price  $i  .50. 
Spargo,  John.     The  Bitter  Cry  of  the  Children.     The  Macmillan  Company, 

New  York  City,  1909.     Illustrated.     337pp.     Price  $1.50. 

1  Works  specially  consulted  in  preparation  of  third  edition. 

125 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  OPEN  AIR  SCHOOLS 


Reprinted  by  permission  from  Open  Air  Schools,  by  Dr.  Leonard  P.  Ayres,  of  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation 

Baginsky,  Adolf.     Uber  Waldschulen  und  Walderholungstatten.     Zeits.  fur 

Psy.  Path,  und  Hygiene,  1906,  Vol.  8,  pp.  161-177. 
Bendix,  Dr.  B.  Uber  die   Charlottenburger  Waldschule.     Deutsche  Viertel- 

jahrsschrift   fur  offentliche  Gesundheitspflege.     September,    1906,  Bd.  39, 

Heft  2,  pp.  305-322. 

Verhandlagen  der  7.     Jahresversammlung  des  Deutschen  Vereins  fur  Schul- 

gesundheitspflege,  Verlag  von  Teubner,  Berlin. 
Bienstock,  Dr.     Die  Waldschule  in  Mulhausen.     Strassburger  Medizinische 

Zeitung,  I  Heft,  1907;   Zeitschrift  fur  Schulgesundheitspflege,  No.  2,  1908. 

Leopold  Voss,  Hamburg. 
Bjorkman,  Edwin.     The   Outdoor  School.     Van  Norden,  December,   1909. 

New  York  City. 
Bryce,    Dr.    P.    H.      Open-air   Schools   and   Preventoria.     Med.   Review  of 

Reviews,  August,  1909.    New  York  City. 
Byles,  A.    Holden.     The   Open-air   School.      The   Worlds   Work,    January, 

1909.  20  Bedford  St.,  London,  W.  C. 
Carrington,  Dr.  Thomas  S.     How  to  Build  and  Equip  an  Open-air  School. 

The  Survey,  April  23,  1910.      New  York  City. 
Clark,  Ida  Hood.     Open-air  Schools.     Proceedings  N.  E.  A.,  1909.     Irwin 

Shepard,  Winona,  Minn. 

Open-air  or  Forest    Schools   of  England  and    Germany.      Kindergarten 

Review,  April,  1910,  Vol.  20,  No.  8.     Milton  Bradley  Co.,  Springfield,  Mass., 

pp.  462-469. 
Crowley,  Ralph  H.     Report  by  the  Medical  Superintendent  on  the  Thackley 

Open-air  School.     City  of   Bradford  Education  Committee.     December 

10,  1910.  Bradford,  England. 

The  Open-air  School  Movement.      The  British  Journal  of  Tuberculosis, 

July,i9o9,  Vol.   3,  No.  3.    G.  E.  Stechert  &   Co.,   151-155  W.  25th  St., 

New  York  City. 

The  Open-air  Recovery  School,  Chap.   14  of  the  Hygiene  of  School  Life. 

Methuen  &  Co.,  1910,  London. 
Curtis,  Elnora  W.     Outdoor  Schools.     Ped.  Sent.,  June,   1909,  pp.  169—194, 

Vol.  1 6.  Worcester,  Mass.     Bibliography.  (Best  and  most  comprehensive 

treatment  in  English.) 

Outdoor  Schools.     American  City ,  November,  1909,  and   January,  1910. 

American  Publishing  Co.,  New  York  City. 
Floyd,    Cleavland.      Care    of  Phthisis   in   Children    through     the    Outdoor 

School.      American    Journal    of   Public    Hygiene,    November,    1909,    pp. 

747-751.  Boston,  Mass. 
Godfrey,   Betty.      An    Inexpensive   Outdoor    School.     Good  Housekeeping, 

Phelps  Publishing  Co.,  Springfield,  Mass.,  May,  1910. 
Gorst,  Sir  John.     Chapter  in  The  Children  of  the  Nation.     1907,  Methuen 

&  Co.,  36  Essex  St.,  London. 

126 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


Grau,  Dr.  H.    Ergebnisse  und  Bedeutung  der  Waldschule.     Centralblatt  fur 

allgemeine  Gesundheitspflege,  1906.      25.    Jahr.,  Heft  11-12,  pp.  373—480. 
Gray,    Ernest.       Open-air   Schools.     North   of   England    Educational   Con- 
ference, 1909. 
Hartt,  Mary  Bronson.     A  School  on  a  Roof.     Boston  Transcript,  May  n, 

1910,  Boston.  (Franklin  Park,  Boston,  School.) 
Huetzer,    Dr.      Walderholungstatten     und     Waldschule.      Centralblatt  fur 

allgemeine  Gesundheitspflege,  1906.      25      Jahr.,  Heft  1-2,  pp.  72-77. 
Henderson,  C.  H.     Outdoor  Schools.      The  World's  Work,  January,   1909. 

Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  New  York  City. 
Hyams,   Isabel    F.,    and    Minot,    Dr.    James.      Boston's    Outdoor    School. 

Journal  of  Outdoor  Life,  July,  1909.     New  York  City. 

(The  above  article  has  been  reprinted  in  "Outdoor  Schools"  published 

by  the  Boston  Association   for  the  Relief  and  Control  of  Tuberculosis,  4 

Joy  St.) 
Kaufman,  Eunice  H.     School  in   the   Forest.      The  Outlook,  December   5, 

1908,  pp.  793-795.     New  York  City. 

(A  description  of  the  Forest  School  at  Charlottenburg,  Germany.) 
Kingsley,  Sherman.     Tuberculous  Children  on  a  City  Roof.      The  Survey, 

March  5,  1910.     New  York  City.     Pp.  863-866. 

(An  account  of  the  school  carried  on  by  the  United  Charities  of  Chicago.) 
Koenig,  Inspector.     Die  Waldschule  in  Miilhausen.     Strassburger  Druckerei 

and  Verlagsanstalt. 
Kraft,    Dr.    A.      Waldschulen.     Verlag    Art    Institut,    Orel    Fiissli,  1908. 

Zurich.  28  pp. 
Kruesi,   Walter   E.     The   Providence   Fresh-air   School.     Charities  and  the 

Commons,  April  18,  1908.     Vol.  20,  No.  3,  pp.  97—99.      New  York  City. 

School  of  Outdoor  Life,  Roxbury,  Mass.    The  Playground,  February,  1909, 

No.  23.    Playground  Association  of  America,  i  Madison  Ave.,  New  York. 

School  of  Outdoor  Life.     Charities    and   the  Commons,  December,  1908. 

Vol.  21,  No.  12,  pp.  447—449.     New  York  City. 
Lange,   W.     Die   Waldschule.     Pad.    Warte,    October,  Jahr.    15,    Heft    20, 

6  p.  1096—1107. 
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Lennhoff,  Dr.  Rudolph.  Walderholungstatten  und  Genesungheime. 
Deutsche  Vierteljahrsschrift  fur  offentliche  Gesundheitspflege,  1906,  Bd.  39, 
pp.  71-107. 

De  Montmorency,  J.  E.  School  Excursions  and  Vacation  Schools.  Board 
of  Education.  Special  Reports  on  Educational  Subjects.  London, 
1907.  Vol.  21,  p.  77. 

Morin,  Jeanne.  An  Open-air  School  in  France.  The  Wide  World,  Decem- 
ber, 1909.  International  News  Co.,  New  York  City. 

Neufert,  Dr.  H.,  and  Bendix,  Dr.  B.  Die  Charlottenburger  Waldschule  im 
ersten  Jahr  ihres  Bestehens.  Urban  und  Schwartzenberg,  Berlin,  Wien, 
1906. 

Perkins,  Dr.  Jay.  The  Providence  Fresh-air  School.  "Outdoor  Schools," 
August,  1909.  Boston  Association  for  the  Relief  and  Control  of  Tuber- 
culosis, 4  Joy  St.,  Boston. 

Rose,   Dr.   Frederick.     Open-air  Schools.      Progress,  April,    1908.     Vol.    3, 
No.  2,  pp.  87—98.     London,  Southampton  Row,  W.  C. 
Open-air  Schools.     Archiv  fur  Volkswohlfahrt,  April,  1909,  2.  Jahr.,  Heft 
7,  Berlin. 

A  Brief  Account  of  the  Nature  and  Scope  of  Open-air  Schools  and  Details 
and  Estimate  of  the  Model.  Pamphlet  T.  C.  C.,  Penny  &  Hill,  Printers, 
London. 

127 


OPEN    AIR    CRUSADERS 


The    National    Importance    of  Outdoor  Schools.       The  British  Journal  of 

Tuberculosis,  July,   1909.     Vol.  3,  No.  3,  Bibliography.      G.  E.  Stecher 

&  Co.,  New  York  City. 

Open-air  Schools.     Published  by  the  Royal  Sanitary  Institute,  Margaret 

St.,  London,  W. 
Sandt,   H.     Waldschulen.     In   Schulhygienisches  Taschenbuch,  Hamburg, 

1907,  pp.  260—266. 
Schaefer,   Dr.      Zur    ErSffnung   der    Waldschule  der  Stadt.   M.   Gladbach. 

Centralblatt  fur  allgemeineGesundheitspftege,  1906.      25.  Jahr.,  Heft  7,  pp. 

311-315.     Verlag  Martin  Hager,  Bonn. 
Schwarz,  Karl  W.    Waldschulen.     Die  Gesundheitwarte  der  Schule,  3.  Jahr., 

AugUSt,    1905,   pp.    200-202. 

Slocum,  Maude  M.  America's  Fresh-air  School  in  Providence.  Good  Health, 
July,  1908,  pp.  383-385.  Battle  Creek,  Michigan. 

Spencer,  Mrs.  Anna  Garlin.  Open-air  Schools.  International  Congress  of 
Tuberculosis,  1908,  Vol.  2,  pp.  612-618. 

Stoll,  Dr.  Henry  F.  The  Hartford  Preventorium :  An  Outdoor  School  for 
Delicate  Children.  Journal  of  Outdoor  Life,  March,  1910.  New  York. 

Talbot,  Winthrop  F.  The  Physical  Basis  of  Attention.  Ad.  and  Proc. 
of  Nat.  Ed.  Ass'n,  1908,  pp.  932—936. 

Thiel,  Peter  J.  Die  Waldschule  in  der  freien  Natur,  eine  padagogische 
Notwendigkeit  und  Moglichkeit.  International  Kongress  fur  Schul- 
hygiene,  Nuremberg,  April,  1904,  Vol.  2,  pp.  346-352. 

Watt,  William  E.     Fresh  Air  for  Average  School  Children.      The  Survey, 
March  5,  1910,  pp.  866-869.      New  York  City. 
(Account  of  the  fresh-air-room  experiment  in  the  Graham  School,  Chicago.) 

Williams,  Ralph  P.     Sheffield  Open-air  School.     British  Journal  of  Tuber- 
culosis, April,  1910,  pp.  101—106.     G.  E.  Stechert  &  Co.,  New  York. 
Sheffield  Open-air-recovery  School.     School  Hygiene,  March,  1910,  Vol.  i, 
No.  3,  pp.    136-143.      School  Hygiene  Publishing  Co.,   2   Charlotte  St., 
London,  W. 

Wing,  Frank  E.  Report  of  Chicago's  first  Outdoor  School  and  its  Results. 
The  Chicago  Tuberculosis  Institute,  158  Adams  St.,  Chicago,  No- 
vember, 1909. 

Watt,  William  E.  Open  Air.  Little  Chronicle  Publishing  Co.,  358  Dear- 
born St. 


128 


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